


Cast Swap

by AnimationAdventures



Category: Total Drama
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cameos from Previous Campers, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Season Four Cast on Season Six, Season Six Cast on Season Four, Season Swap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-23 11:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 35,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13786188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimationAdventures/pseuds/AnimationAdventures
Summary: What if the new casts from seasons four and six swapped seasons? How would the challenges go with the original Floating Salmon and Confused Bears replacing the original Mutant Maggots and Toxic Rats, and vice versa? How would Dave react to being on an island infected by toxic waste? What would happen to Dakota if she wasn't on an island that could turn her into a monster?





	1. TDRI Episode 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourteen new campers arrive at Camp Wawanakwa, the location of the first season of Total Drama. After surviving a boat explosion and being faced with their first challenge, the contestants learn that the island has undergone a few changes over the last few years.

Episode 1- Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!

In space, an astronaut attempted to fix a satellite marked 'TDI' which was scratched out and subsequently marked 'TDA' and 'TDWT'. Both were scratched out as well, and a big 'TDRI' was marked onto the satellite in black paint instead. While the astronaut fixed it, some panels came off, causing the astronaut to slap his hand to his helmet.

"We've been to the movies; we've been around the world," Chris McLean narrated as the scene zoomed in down on Earth, and displayed the Total Drama series' famous island. "And this season, we're going right back to where it all began- at Camp Wawanakwa!" Chris was shown standing on the island's famed Dock of Shame, which appeared to be suffering from wear and tear with several planks splintered or broken off. "I'm Chris McLean, and as you can see," Chris continued to say as he walked to the dock's edge towards an intern that was holding a plate with a coconut drink, "things have changed since we've been away." As if on cue, one side of the island's 'Wawanakwa' sign fell from its post. "And by changed," the host picked up the drink from the plate, "I meant gotten really, really dangerous."

A huge tentacle rose out of the water behind the pair, and slammed down on the dock's edge. Chris jumped back as the tentacle struck down, demolishing the edge to splinters and taking the intern with it. Whereas most would be horrified by the action, Chris merely laughed.

"Good stuff," he said before turning his attention back to the camera and becoming more serious, "but the rules of the game remain the same. A handful of unsuspecting teens will bunk with complete strangers." As he explained the game, the camera briefly flashed to inside one of the old cabins from season one, looking the same as two seasons ago, but with that same sense of wear and tear as the dock had displayed. "Air their dirty laundry in our outhouse confessional," the host narrated over a quick peek inside the series' notorious confessional outhouse, which was still fly-ridden as ever, "and compete in life-threatening challenges all over the island, and risk being voted off." In a throwback to the series' first ever challenge, the camera viewed the Thousand-Foot-High Cliff and the water below it. The water showed its life-threatening appearance by displaying some jagged rocks poking out of the water's surface. This was followed by a shot of the camp's campfire area, complete with stump seats and Chris's oil drum podium.

"Last one standing wins one million dollars!" Chris summarized as the viewers were shown a wheelbarrow full of money. "Speaking of our cast, here they come now!"

On a yacht sailing towards the island were all twenty-four of the contestants seen in the previous three seasons. On the ship's portside, Harold, Leshawna, and DJ danced while Duncan made out with Gwen, and Eva stood off to the side with her arms crossed. On the stern deck, Owen pumped his fists, Sierra snuggled a happy, compliant Cody, and Noah watched as Izzy played with the life preserver rings while she dangled over the ship's edge. Underneath a backwards baseball hat, Sierra's hair was slowly starting to grow back from being burned off in the Total Drama Jumbo Jet's explosion. Up on a deck higher up from them, Tyler and Lindsay made out like Duncan and Gwen on the railing while Beth admired a shirtless Justin posing for her. The moment was effectively ruined when a seagull pooped on Justin's shoulder. On the boat's bow deck, Trent found himself sandwiched between Katie and Sadie, Courtney watched with jealousy as Bridgette partied with Geoff, Alejandro (stuck in the robot suit) held Heather in his arms, and feral Ezekiel perched on the railing to feel the wind in his face.

Just as it seemed like the boat was going to dock at the island, it actually passed the island instead.

Owen let out a despaired cry of "Nooooo!" Chris couldn't help, but chuckle at the food lover's disappointment.

"No," Chris corrected the audience, "not them. This season, we have all-new players fighting for the million. Here they come now, for real!"

Another smaller yacht made its way towards the island, all of fourteen of the contestants in the camera's sight.

The first person on the bow deck was a black-haired First Nations girl in a pale olive and purple blouse and black athletic pants, around her neck she wore a purple bead necklace to match the purple on her blouse, and had red feather earrings. "Meet Sky!"

The newly named Sky held up a pack of gum, and turned to the shorter, pale boy next to her. He had purple hair, and wore a gray jumpsuit. "Want some gum?" She held out a stick from her pack to him.

"Max," Chris declared the boy's name.

"Your offer of simple confectionery will not save you from the evil of me!" Max scoffed, hunching his back and holding his hands out in front of him maniacally. His eyes took on a mad scientist look for only a moment before returning to normal, as did his posture. "But yes, thank you." He took the stick, and tossed it in his mouth. Almost immediately he began to gag, and clutched his chest. He coughed, and hacked the gum wad out into his hand. "Cinnamon, there is no need for you to be that spicy!" He scolded the wad.

Next to him, wearing a blue sweater vest and khakis, an Indian boy with dark hair chuckled awkwardly at Max's antics. "That guy's a little weird," he remarked to Sky.

"Dave, and Ella!"

A vaguely Asian girl with black hair dressed in a pink blouse, skirt, and bow leaned over to Dave. "I think it's lovely that he tried the gum even if he didn't like it afterwards," said Ella.

A bit weirded out by how close she was leaning near him, and her attitude in general, Dave mulled over how to respond. "Um, sure?"

"Sugar!" The host introduced the next contestant. As if hearing her name called, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, overweight girl in a pink top and blue jeans hurried on-camera, shoving Dave and Ella into Max and Sky. Max was rather irritated at being squished between three people.

"Move over, yer hoggin' the spotlight! It's my turn!" Sugar commanded as she did so, and then struck a pose for the camera.

"Oops, sorry!" Ella apologized.

As much as Chris would've loved to capture this dramatic encounter, he still had to introduce the other contestants. "Beardo!"

A fart sound rang out, and Sugar's eyes went wide. "Uh, that was not me! A pageant queen never farts… unless it's her talent…" She said, trying to defend herself.

Panning past her, the fart sound's true source was seen. The source was an African-Canadian teen who wore a gray, greasy shirt under gray suspenders and gray jeans. Unbelievably for someone his age, he had a huge afro and a big beard. He smiled knowingly, and made the sound of a television audience's applause.

"Where's that applause comin' from? Are we gonna be in front of an audience? This just gets better n' better!" Sugar said off-screen.

Chris cut off Sugar's fascination with another camper's introduction, "Scarlett!"

Past Beardo, a redhead with green eyes and round glasses, wearing a yellow sweater and blue skirt, observed Beardo. "Interesting, you appear to have trained yourself to mimic the abilities of a lyrebird. I suppose the ability could be picked up by humans, but that would take a lot of practice." She noted, and Beardo shrugged at her.

"Rodney!" Chris introduced once more as the camera moved to Scarlett's right. Another redhead, this one a boy, was huge in comparison to her. He wore a white shirt underneath his blue overalls.

The tall, bulky farm boy gazed at Scarlett in awe. "Wow… you're so smart…"

Scarlett gave him a questioning look at his behavior. "Um, thank you, I suppose."

The scene switched to a lower deck on the yacht's side where a blonde-haired, green-eyed girl in a red and white cheerleading uniform stood. She also had a beauty mark on her face.

"Amy and Samey!" The host's voice narrated.

The girl waved. "Hey everyone, I'm Amy. Pay no attention to my sister, Samey, she's a loser."

A girl nearly identical to her walked up to her, only she didn't have a beauty mark. "Amy, will you please stop telling people my name is Samey, and not Sammy? I don't really like that."

"No one cares what you think, Samey. You're just a spare me," the first cheerleader with the beauty mark sneered. "Now get away from me, you're in my shot." Amy pushed her sister back, and Sammy fell to the deck floor.

A tall Australian girl in a slouch hat, wilderness vest and shorts, and a white undershirt, walked over with a glare directed towards Amy after seeing Amy shove her sister down. "That's a bit brutal to your own sister, don't you think?"

"Jasmine!" Chris introduced the new girl.

Amy squeaked upon seeing her. "Giant!"

"We're going to have problems, aren't we?" Jasmine quipped, still glaring at Amy.

"Topher!" Chris' voice announced, interrupting the confrontation.

The introduced teen hurried over to the scene. He wore a long-sleeved shirt with a color scheme identical to Chris's own, and khaki pants the same color as Chris's as well. His hair was a dirty blonde, almost brown, and his eyes were green. "We're not even on our first challenge yet, and there's already tension? I love this show!" He proclaimed, rubbing his hands together eagerly while Sammy hesitantly got to her feet between her sister and Jasmine.

"Leonard!"

On another deck at the back of the yacht, Leonard stood in a green wizard robe, complete with a gray, fake beard and a floppy, green wizard's hat. He appeared to be reading from a book. "Okay, time to review a few spells that I might need. Spells for boosting team power, page 75."

"And Shawn!"

Shawn had himself perched up on top of the boat. He wore a white sweater underneath an orange vest, jeans, and had most of his light brown hair tucked under a sickly green beanie hat.

"Hah! It's already impossible for zombies to get onto a boat that's out in the water, but I'd like to see them get up here." He boasted with a smug smile.

Chris stood on the dock sipping his coconut drink. "That's right! This season is our roughest, toughest, and most dangerous season ever!" Chris pulled out a remote and pressed the button on it. The yacht exploded, sending the contestants flying in every direction and screaming their lungs out. "Here on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"

* * *

_Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine. You guys are on my mind…_

All over the island, hidden cameras thrust themselves out of their hiding places, ready to record action, including one that was being held by a tentacle in a tree knothole. A camera zoomed all over the island, briefly showing Chris standing on top of a totem pole with a whip while four interns struggled to carry the totem pole. The camera went up to the Thousand-Foot-High Cliff, and dove off of it, splashing into the water.

Max unhappily swam in the lake until a claw like machine grabbed him by his swim trunks, and pulled him up to the surface.

_You asked me what I wanted to be and now I think the answer is plain to see…_

Up in a canoe, Scarlett tinkered with the machine, and looked up as it pulled Max out of the water. Eyeing the ungrateful boy, Scarlett smugly pressed a button on the machine, and it flung Max far away. Max eventually reached his arc, and began to descend back towards the ground.

_I wanna be famous…_

Somewhere in the woods, Leonard tried to cast spells on a flower with a stick wand, but was interrupted when Max landed on top of him. Sky ran by while doing a jog, and passed Ella on her way. Ella was walking and singing to an assortment of mutated animals on the island, including a winged goat and a three-eyed frog, before a giant mutant gopher came out of the ground and roared at them, causing Ella and her animal friends to run away in terror.

_I wanna live close to the sun…_

The camera panned to a waterfall, where Amy and Sammy were in the same canoe, arguing until they both noticed the waterfall. They went over the edge, and both started screaming as they fell.

_Well, pack your bags cause I've already won…_

Jasmine stood on a branch acting as a bridge over the bottom of the waterfall, waiting patiently, and noticed the twins falling. With quick reflexes, she grabbed Sammy by the wrist, and pulled her onto the branch bridge, which the nice twin is grateful for. The action was quickly forgotten when the branch snapped in half, sending them both down into the water anyway.

_Everything to prove nothing in my way…_

Shawn leaned against the confessional while watching Jasmine and Sammy with approval until a shark with legs emerged out of the confessional, and he ran away out of fright. The shark raised an eyebrow at Shawn in confusion.

_I'll get there one day…_

Zooming into the mess hall, Chef was stirring some concoction together until Sugar threw him away from the pot. Sugar picked up the pot, and chugged down its contents.

_Cause I wanna be famous…_

Dave prodded a bowl of mush with a spoon nervously until his face took on an annoyed expression. Displeased, he put fingers in his ears, and a pan to his left revealed that Beardo was moving his mouth and making a bunch of noises. The scene switched from inside the mess hall to the beach as Sky arrived at the beach, jumping with joy as she completed her jog.

_Nana nana na nana na nanana…_

On the Dock of Shame, Rodney appeared to be contemplating over pictures of Amy, Jasmine, and Scarlett. A purple, furry hand snatched away Amy's picture, to which Rodney gasped. As the camera panned over, the owner of the purple hand was revealed to be Sasquatchinakwa, one of the island's resident creatures. He made kissy faces at Amy's picture until Rodney hurried over to him. Cradling Jasmine and Scarlett's pictures in his other arm, Rodney extended his free arm over Sasquatchinakwa's shoulder, trying to grab at the picture the purple yeti stole. The sasquatch made an annoyed face at Rodney bothering him.

_I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous…_

A pair of hands, Topher's hands, turned the camera towards the Dock of Shame. He backed up, checked his hair, and spread out his arms like Chris does during his intro and outro. He raised them halfway up before Chris dumped a bucket of water on him. Drenched and indignant, Topher glared up at the host as he flew away on his jetpack.

_I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous…_

The scene changed to a bonfire and showed Dave and Sky sitting next to each other. They looked at each other with nervous smiles, wondering if they should get closer together or not. Both immediately disregarded the idea when Chef appeared with a toxic marshmallow, and Dave scrambled away. The scene got wider, revealing that Dave has hid himself behind Shawn while everyone whistled to the show's theme. In the last shot, a sign read "Total Drama: Revenge of the Island".

* * *

Leonard screamed as he slammed onto a rock breaching the lake's surface. "Force… field…" he moaned weakly as he slid into the water.

Topher swam past him, commenting, "Blowing up the boat? Awesome! That's going to be ratings gold!"

Clutching driftwood as support, Max and Sammy swam towards shore at a slow pace, their faces indicating how shaken they were by the explosion. Coming up between them, Amy smashed their supports to pieces.

"Have fun drowning, Samey!" She callously laughed, swimming on ahead. Along the way, she passed Sky, who had stopped to tread water.

The gymnast watched the mean twin's actions, and called out as Amy swam away, "Hey! That was uncalled for!" Unhappy with the mean twin, she returned to her original goal of swimming to shore.

Back at the rock, Leonard was having trouble keeping himself afloat with his wizard robes dragging him down. "Help! My cloak isn't durable for wading through water."

Dave swam past him with an uncaring look in his eye. "Should've thought of that before wearing it out here."

Leonard started to go under, but after a moment, Sugar rose out of the water, holding him in her arms. "I'll save you, Wizard!" she declared, not even noticing that her makeup was running from being underwater.

He sputtered out some water before smiling to his savior. "Thank you, kind maiden."

"You're welcome. Now come on, let's get to shore." Sugar held onto Leonard's body with one arm, and used the other to swim to the closest part of the beach.

Sammy smiled, watching Sugar's rescue. "Well, at least he's got someone looking out for him," she said, and then frowned at her words. "Now I just wish I had someone looking out for me."

"Oi, keep swimming!" Jasmine told her as she swam by. "Who knows what Chris has stocked in these waters?"

Reeling with realization, Sammy panicked. "Oh, right!" Hurrying, she swam after Jasmine.

Rodney sighed blissfully. "All the girls here swim like angels…" He trailed off for a moment, and then something caught his eye, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Huh?"

The camera zoomed out a little to show Beardo's giant ball of hair swimming past him. Bubbles formed on the water's surface, and popped while making the sound of a submarine sonar.

* * *

(Confessional- Sammy)

"It's so unfair," Sammy sighed, her arms and legs crossed as she sat in the outhouse confessional. "I auditioned for Total Drama to get away from Amy."

* * *

(Confessional- Topher)

Topher sat in the outhouse with his hands behind his head and one leg propped up on the seat. "The Total Drama confessional, a series must-have. I have to say, Chris picked a good group of campers for this season; I can just feel the drama radiating off this group already."

* * *

Reaching the beach, Sky panted as she walked onto the sand. Looking around her, she began to cheer. "The first one on the beach? Yes!"

"Not quite," Shawn's voice interrupted. Sky glanced further down the beach, and saw Shawn sitting on a rock, wringing out his beanie hat.

"Whoa," Sky gaped at him. "I didn't even see you there. How'd you get here first?"

"I was on the highest point of the boat when it exploded," he answered while putting his hat back on. "It gave me good distance."

Sky opened her mouth to respond when Dave crawled onto shore. "I made it…" he gasped out before collapsing face first into the sand.

* * *

(Confessional- Dave)

The normal guy squirted hand sanitizer on his hands, and set his pocket-sized bottle aside on the seat, beginning to rub his hands together to spread the cleaning product. "Eugh, this outhouse is so unclean… anyway, that Sky girl, she seems nice. She looks saner than most of the other people here. If I have to get stuck on a team with one of these people, I'd prefer her."

* * *

Sugar came walking out of the water as if she had walked on the bottom of the lake the whole way there, and she had Leonard in her arms. Once they were on dry land, she dropped Leonard onto the ground.

She boastfully declared, "I brought the wizard!"

* * *

(Confessional- Sugar)

"I think it's obvious that I'm gonna win this here show," she told the camera. "I've got looks, brains, and enough muscle to tip over a cow. Combine those with that handsome wizard, I'm a shoo-in!"

* * *

Most of the new contestants had arrived at the beach by that point. Amy made it a point to sit next to her sister so she could make her feel bad, and Shawn still sat at his rock Sky found him on. Dave sat with Sky, and Rodney attempted to get all the water out of his shoe. Max was the most recent to arrive, as his washing ashore got the attention of most of the others. He coughed up a fish, much to Dave's disgust.

Standing up at Max's arrival, Scarlett started doing a head count. "I count thirteen. Are we still missing one?"

As if on cue, Ella appeared on the beach, except she didn't come from the water; she came from the air, totally dry. The others gawked as a number of little birds gently lowered her onto the sand. Upon releasing her, the birds quickly flew away.

"Thank you, my feathered friends~!" She sung, oblivious to the looks she was getting.

* * *

(Confessional- Ella)

"When the boat exploded, I made friends with some lovely birds that were flying by at the moment, and they were very kind to help me get to shore," Ella explained happily, and then frowned. "Though, they seemed to be in a hurry when they left. I wonder why that may be."

* * *

Max scowled as he emptied water from his shoe. "How dare that imbecile make the boat detonate with me on it? Chris should know that I will be ruling over the world one day, and he will serve me." He stated seriously. "Since this is our first meeting, I'll let him off with a warning."

"Agreed," Leonard nodded. "I didn't even get a chance to cast a foresight spell, or a force field spell to protect myself."

Dave glanced at Sky weirdly. "He does know he's not a wizard, right?"

Sky didn't even get a chance to respond before the island's intercom turned on.

"Attention fresh meat," Chris' voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "See the trail leading into the forest?" The contestants all looked further up the beach, seeing a path heading into the trees. "Race to the end of the trail, and do not disturb the wildlife. That would be bad."

Dave rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, we'll upset the bunnies. Fluffy little bunnies that eat carrots." Beardo and Sky chuckled along with the joke.

"The tiniest sound can set them off, like this!" Chris blew an air horn over the loudspeakers. The loud noise made the contestants wince, and cover their ears. The air horn quieted after a few moments, allowing the campers to hear again.

Not too far away, a primal roar echoed across the island, and trees could be seen getting knocked down.

Immediately afraid for their lives, the campers quickly got up and ran onto the forest path, screaming in fright.

* * *

In the forest, a bird skittered along a branch in a tree and was soon snatched up by a tongue that whipped out from a tree hollow, leaving behind a few feathers.

Over at a finish line on the path, Sky crossed first. "Oh yeah! Actually first this time, woo!" She cheered, pumping fists in the air. She looked behind her to see Jasmine and Shawn cross the finish line as well, second and third respectively. "Nice job, guys!" Sky praised the two.

Shawn stood tall with pride. "Hey, if you want to escape the walkers then you've got to run as fast as you can."

"I've just got really long legs," Jasmine shrugged.

Chris arrived on an ATV. "Not too bad. Little Gymnast, Zombie Survivalist, off to the right, you two are on Team A. Miss Wilderness, two steps to the left, you're on Team B." Jasmine did as he said and moved to the left of his vehicle.

"I'm here Chris, I'm here." Rodney crossed the finish line.

"Farm Muscle, Team B." Dave came screaming across the finish line, crashing into Sky and knocking her over. "Sir Scream-a-lot, Team A."

Dave quickly got up and helped Sky back on her feet. "Sorry about that, still freaking out over what we heard back at the beach."

Amy and Sammy came in next at the same time, sliding to a stop. "I won again, Samey, will you ever stop losing? Wait, let me answer that, probably not." Amy sneered in her sister's face, much to Sammy's displeasure.

"Victorious Twin, Team B." Chris said to Amy. Leaving her sister to be alone and depressed, Amy happily walked over to join Jasmine and Rodney. Hearing the screeching of tires, Sammy looked around for the sound's source. Beardo arrived fast and put on the brakes. Sammy looked at him oddly, and was about to ask him about it before Chris announced, "Human Beatbox, Team A; Second Amy, Team B."

"Do I really have to be on the same team as her?" Sammy asked Chris, pointing to her sister, who strangely looked like she was delighted by Sammy's team assignment.

Chris nodded happily, "Afraid so." Sammy sighed, and went over to join them.

"La la la," Ella hummed a little tune as she walked across the finish line.

"Pink Princess, Team A." Chris ordered, a little annoyed by Ella's cheerful singing.

"Thank you~!" She sang in response, joining her team, unknowingly irritating Chris further.

"Chris!" Topher ran across the finish line, and rushed up to greet his idol eagerly. "Chris, it is an honor to meet you! You've inspired me so much."

"Personal Biggest Fan, Team B." Chris said to Topher, patting him on the shoulder and giving him a thumbs-up and a smile. Topher accepted the assignment, and jogged over to join his team.

Sugar walked across the finish line tiredly. "So tired, can't walk much further." She crossed the white line just as she collapsed face down.

"Hahaha! Serves her right!" Max laughed as he walked past her. As if she had energy left to spare, Sugar lifted up her head to scowl at him.

"Wizard Saver, Team A; Purple Gnome, Team B."

"I still haven't forgotten your little stunt with blowing up the boat, future minion. Watch yourself," Max warned Chris as he walked past him. Disturbed by Max's look at him, Chris cringed.

Leonard walked across the finish line and greeted Chris. "Hello, sir, have the factions been determined yet?"

"Almost," Chris nodded to him, "Gray Beard, you're on Team A." Lastly, Scarlett came across the finish line, walking with confidence. "Quiet Genius, Team B."

Shawn looked between the host and both teams. "Great, now answer this? Just what the heck was that back there?!"

"I've never heard anything like that before," Jasmine noted from Team B.

Chris shrugged nonchalantly, and examined his hands momentarily. "Relax, it will all make sense eventually." He chuckled then laughed then went into a full cackle, worrying some of the contestants. He concluded his fit of laughter by wiping a tear from his eye. "Now, this season of Total Drama will be a little bit different. For example, in every episode, someone will be eliminated." This announcement received gasps and whispers from everyone.

Topher smirked at Chris. "Really making us work for that immunity this time, huh Chris? I like it."

"I know," Chris agreed, "I'm good. But since you're all first-timers, I'm going to cut you a break, and hide this bad boy somewhere in the campgrounds." He retrieved something from the dashboard of his ATV, and held it up. It was a wooden carving of his head. "A genuine McLean brand Chris head," he explained as the item was shown with a background of Chef Hatchet in an angel costume playing a harp. "Your free ticket back into the game. Even if your teammates vote you off, whoever finds it will become the most powerful contestant in Total Drama history!" He elaborated, earning curious looks from most of the contestants, and a look of awe from Sugar. Finished with his explanation, Chris frowned, and brought the carving down to eye level, and examined it while feeling his chin with his other hand. "Is the cleft on my chin really that big?"

Sugar giggled as she finally got to her feet. "Yep, kinda looks like someone's butt!"

Scowling at the pageant queen's answer, the host tucked the idol away. "Moving on," he said, shifting the topic away from that. "Time for the team names!"

"Team EVIL!" Max immediately called out, getting dirty looks from Amy and Scarlett, along with a shocked one from Sammy. "No, Max's Minions!"

"Great suggestions, Max," Chris replied sarcastically, wearing a smile. "But, names have already been chosen by moi. Team A, you shall be known henceforth as the Toxic Rats!" On cue, the team logo- a six-pawed, angry rat in green was shown on-screen.

With the exception of Leonard, none of the team seemed particularly thrilled by the choice.

"Did he just say toxic?!" Dave asked his new team with increasing horror.

Ignoring Dave's concern, Chris turned to the other team. "And Team B, you are hereby dubbed the Mutant Maggots!" Their team logo- a three-eyed maggot with sharp teeth in red was displayed.

The newly dubbed Maggots did not seem excited by their team name either. Topher, who had been supportive of Chris thus far, was even disturbed by the name.

Adjusting her glasses, Scarlett interjected, "Um, not that the topic of toxic waste isn't fascinating, but why are the team names centered around that?"

Before anyone could answer her, a roar shook the area, making all of the new campers gasp in fright. As they looked around, they noticed deeper in the forest that several trees were getting knocked down, and each one that was knocked over was closer to their location than the last. Eventually, a nearby bush rustled, causing them all to tense up in preparation of being attacked. Amy prepared by holding her sister out in front of her like a shield.

Once the bush ceased to rattle, a tiny, pink, hairless rodent hopped out into the open.

"Uh… is that supposed to be a squirrel?" Rodney questioned out loud.

Several campers let out a squeak of shock and disgust as the hairless squirrel blinked, its eyelids blinking vertically instead of horizontally. "Oh poor thing, what's the matter with it?" Ella asked from off-screen.

"While we were gone, I rented the island out to a nice, family-oriented biohazardous waste disposal company," Chris told them all. As he explained, the camera showed off a group of toxic waste barrels surrounding a tree with a barrel jammed in its knothole. The barrel dripped waste onto the ground with every second. "Sweet people, but the waste is having a teensy bit of an impact on the flora and fauna." To prove his point, a butterfly passed in front of the squirrel, which promptly snatched it out of the air with its tongue like a frog catching a fly.

Ella visibly despaired at the unnatural occurrence while Sky frowned and Leonard smiled.

"How mystical," Leonard remarked, earning a strange look from Sky.

Beardo ventured close to the squirrel, and reached his hand out to pet it. In response, the squirrel roared in his face before its eyes turned red, and began to shoot lasers at his feet. For his part, Beardo jumped a foot in the air, letting out a scream and darting back to his team while accompanied by a cartoonish running sound effect. When Beardo fled, the rodent blew him a raspberry, and skittered back into the woods.

The camera then showed Beardo hiding behind Shawn, who had his arms raised and ready to defend himself. Off-screen nearby, Chris laughed. "Most danger ever!"

* * *

(Confessional- Beardo)

Beardo wiped sweat from his brow, and let out an audible "Phew!"

* * *

The attention returned to Chris on his ATV, holding his finger in the air. "Now, before we start our very first challenge of the season, let's give out some rewards. Jasmine, because you got up here before anyone else, your team gets a trampoline, and the Rats get a hacksaw."

Chef was shown bouncing on the trampoline, unenthusiastically showing off the prize while showing the Rats' prize in his hand. He let out a startled cry as he fell off the trampoline, dropping the hacksaw in the process. Sugar pointed a finger at him, laughing. The hacksaw then smacked her in the face.

"Dagnabbit, that hurt!" The pageant queen complained, rubbing her face with her hand. On the Maggots, Max laughed at her in turn, only to be run over by the trampoline being thrown at his team. He moaned in pain on the ground as nobody on the team moved to help him back up.

"What do these items have to do with this bomb?" Chris asked the camera, holding up a cube-shaped device with a detonator attached.

Rodney glanced down at Scarlett beside him. "He's not going to blow us up again, is he?"

"Won't I?" Chris rhetorically inquired, popping up between the two with the explosive in hand. Rodney instinctively recoiled while Scarlett carefully leaned away, taking on a curious expression as she stared at the explosive. "Find out when we come back!" The show faded to commercial.

* * *

When the show faded back in, two totem poles were shown hanging from a pair of thick, wide trees. The Rats' totem was on the left, and the Maggots' was on the right; the Maggots' totem also had an axe stuck in the bottom whereas the Rats' totem appeared to have nothing of the sort stuck in the same place. As the cameras panned downward to the ground, there was a sound of clapping.

"That was so good!" Topher cheered as he clapped. "A great cut to commercial break from the man himself."

"Thank you, Topher." Chris accepted the praise with a smile, and turned to address the challenge, holding his hand up in the direction of the totems. "Those are your team totems. You need to cut them down, and get them in the river, and ride them back to the campground. First team there gets their pick of the cabins, but hurry, the totems are rigged with bombs that will explode if you don't plant them in front of your cabin in seven minutes or less. Starting now." At those final two words, the detonator on the Rats' totem started to count down.

Already standing on a huge boulder next to the team's trampoline, Amy pumped her fist. "This will be easy! Just watch!" She jumped on the trampoline, but because of the angle she jumped from, she was sent flying into the river with a scream.

Meanwhile, Shawn picked up the hacksaw. "Leave this to me," he told his teammates as he shouldered it. "I'm an expert tree climber. I'll climb up and cut it down." Jumping up onto the tree's side, Shawn grunted as he began to climb. From down on the ground, Dave watched as he climbed. As he spotted Shawn, Sky walked over to him.

"While he does that, maybe we should come up with a backup plan in case his doesn't work," she suggested.

Dave smiled at her. "That is a great idea! I mean, the plan would have to make sure I don't get splinters or dirt all over my fingers, but yeah. We can do that." Sky gazed at him, not sure whether to smile or frown.

Back with the other team, Scarlett examined the trampoline. "Hm, this isn't going to suffice. At this angle, whoever jumps will not be in optimal position to grab and remove the axe from its wedge."

Scoffing, Max shoved his way past her. "Nonsense, it is perfectly evil as is. Watch!"

"I wouldn't recommend jumping with the current trajectory-" The redheaded genius tried to tell him, but before she could finish, Max jumped onto the trampoline.

Just as she suspected, he slammed right up into the base of the totem face first and nowhere near the ax. He fell down to trampoline, which bounced him back up, and caused him to slam into it with his back before falling again. The team watched in growing discomfort as Max repeatedly hit the trampoline and the totem back and forth. After a few more collisions, Rodney took matters into his own hands, and pulled the trampoline out from under Max before he could hit it again. Instead of bouncing on the trampoline once more, Max's face met the ground and his body fell flat against it.

* * *

(Confessional- Max)

The villain huffed as he folded his arms over his chest. "This is why minions do all the work, and not the evil masters themselves. Just look!" He held up one arm, and pointed to his elbow with his other hand. "I got a boo-boo!"

* * *

Shawn let out a scream as his grip slipped, and he fell back down to the ground. "Forget it, this tree isn't climbable. I never thought I'd meet a tree like this."

"Looks like we're going to need that backup plan after all," Sky spoke up, getting her team's attention. "Anyone got one?"

"I can get our totem pole down for us." Leonard stated confidently.

Dave glanced at him warily. "You can?"

"Wizards can do magic. He can magic the totem pole down. Do magic, Wizard." Sugar answered Dave, urging Leonard to prove himself.

Raising a stick wand, Leonard pointed it at the totem pole. "Totem pole: gravitatus downus!" Nothing happened to the pole. "Hm, let me try again, gravitatus downus!" He got the same results.

"Leonard, magic isn't real." Dave said to the wizard role-player.

"Magic is real if you believe it is." Ella said. "But if Leonard's powers aren't working, then perhaps I should call some bird friends if Shawn can't make it up there."

Sugar glared at Ella. "Of course the wizard's powers are working. Just give him a chance. Wizard, try again."

* * *

(Confessional- Sky)

Sky sat with her hands resting in her lap, unsure of how to phrase her thoughts. "The team is… quirky, but nice." She started off before making her thoughts more assertive. "I know we can win challenges if we work together well enough."

* * *

"You better not mess this up, Samey!" Amy ordered to her sister as Sammy took a turn on the trampoline.

Sammy bounced up, and managed to grab onto the ax. "Got it!" She tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge. "Um, now what do I do?"

"Just try to wedge it out or something, anything helps." Jasmine hollered up.

Amy made a noise of annoyance. "Ugh! Samey, you're useless!"

The outback explorer immediately rounded on her. "You hush up, and give her a chance. She's part of the team too."

"You say that like it's a good thing. She gets picked last at everything at school since she sucks," the mean twin answered flippantly. Jasmine narrowed her eyes at her.

* * *

(Confessional- Jasmine)

"I don't like that girl, not one bit." She told the camera. Since she was so tall, she was hunched over as she sat on the outhouse toilet. "I think she's bad for the team, and as soon as we lose our first challenge, she should be the one voted off."

* * *

Sky stared at the tree, tapping her chin in thought, and then turned her attention to the totem, also taking that into consideration. She made a few shapes with her hands, and traced invisible lines with a finger. Nodding to herself, she faced her team. "Okay, I think I got an idea."

Sammy had somehow pulled herself up to the totem base, and pressed her feet against the underside, attempting to pull the ax out as if she was still on the ground. A chittering sound caught her attention, and she looked over to the tree, watching as a hairless squirrel, possibly the same one from earlier, scurried out onto the branch next to her height. She squeaked nervously, and let one hand go of the ax to wave at it. "Hi… don't mind me." The rodent roared in response, and she began to scream fearfully.

"Well, that's not good." Rodney stated the obvious, watching with Jasmine and Max. Amy lazily examined her nails, not caring about the danger her twin was in.

"Perhaps what we need is a little mayhem. Evil mayhem!" Max cackled, picking up a stone and chucking it at the squirrel.

The stone clonked the side of the squirrel's head. Infuriated, the squirrel's eyes turned red, and it began to shoot lasers down at the Maggots. Max yelped in fright, and started running away as his teammates ducked out of the way.

A flash cut over to the Rats, and it showed Sky taking a few steps back towards where Ella was standing. "Okay, ready?" She asked Beardo, who was standing near the tree. He gave her a thumbs-up and a 'Ding! Ding!' before kneeling down on one knee and cupping his hands to make a foothold. "Here goes!" She took the hacksaw from Ella, shouldering it, and sprinted towards Beardo. He leaned in as she placed one foot in his hands, and threw her upwards towards the tree over his shoulder. Sky somersaulted through the air, pressing her feet against the tree's trunk, and using it as a launching point up at the totem. She latched onto the totem, and clung to it tight. "I made it!"

Her team cheered down below and out of the camera's view.

While the Rats made progress, the Maggots continued to run around the site, screaming in terror. Topher made a show of covering his hair with his hands, and yelling out, "Not the hair!"

Up on the branch, the squirrel paused in attacking the campers, and gave a look to Sammy. The nice twin whimpered as it glared at her, and started shooting beams at her. "Please don't hurt me!" She pleaded, dodging the blasts until one hit the ax, bounced off, and cut through the rope holding up the totem. The totem fell, and landed on the ground with a thud. Sammy managed to get onto the base's side so she wouldn't be squished, and clung to it. "I-I got it…" She announced shakily.

Jasmine, Rodney, Scarlett, and Topher all cheered while Max showed an expression of indifference and Amy appeared downright annoyed.

"Let's move, Maggots!" Jasmine rallied the team.

Sky quickly scaled the Rats' totem, and soon reached the head. Taking the saw from her shoulder, she called out, "Look out below!" Quickly, she sawed through the rope, and the totem was soon free.

The team, except Sugar, cheered once the totem was on the ground.

"Hooray," Ella exclaimed, clasping her hands to her cheek sweetly. "We did it!"

Sugar snorted, folding her arms in front of her and rolling her eyes. "The wizard could've done that if ya let him."

* * *

(Confessional- Shawn)

The conspiracy theorist sat on the toilet, entirely serious. "That tree was hard to climb. If I was in the zombie apocalypse and had to climb that tree to safety, I'd have probably been zombie chow. I'll have to add really thick trees like that one to my apocalypse training regime."

* * *

When the focus returned to the challenge, the camera showed the river the totems were to float down on. Soon enough, the Maggots cruised down the river on their totem. Jasmine, as the unofficial team leader, took the front, and was followed by Sammy, Amy, Topher, Rodney, Scarlett, and Max. They all cheered as they went downstream. Their cheers faded out, and were replaced by the cheers of the Rats. Beardo sat in front, followed by Sky, Dave, Ella, Shawn, Sugar, and Leonard as they passed the camera's view.

Sammy looked back at the other team, her eyes wide with worry. "They're gaining on us!"

Amy snorted derisively. "What else is new, Samey? The sky is blue?"

"Um, guys, we might have a little problem." Rodney pointed ahead. The viewpoint changed to the team's of what was in front of them. They were headed towards a waterfall.

"What? A waterfall?" Jasmine questioned out loud as the camera passed over each team member's scared looks.

Topher was apparently the only one unafraid as he smiled. "Oh, so that's why Chris wanted us to ride these down the river. Great challenge layout!"

The Maggots let out hollers as they flew over the waterfall's edge, and down into the trees below. They crashed through branches, and eventually landed on a hill their totem continued to slide down on. In the process of landing, their totem bounced a bit, causing Max to fumble out of his seat.

"Ah! Help! Evil genius about to go overboard here!" He shouted as he whipped behind the totem pole like a flag.

Scarlett twisted around, and took his arm, pulling him back on. "Hang on, I've got you." She helped him settle back on, and told him, "Try to keep a firmer grip next time."

"Thank you," Max replied, tightening his grip like Scarlett suggested. "You know, you'd make a good sidekick."

She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if she heard correctly. "Pardon?"

Back up at the top of the waterfall, the Rats and their pole flew over the edge the same way that the Maggots did. Again, branches were snapped, but when they were next seen, their totem was firmly on the hill and sliding down. They all cheered at their relative safety. Standing up so she could see over Beardo's afro, Sky soon sat back down.

"The other team is still ahead of us. We need to speed up. Lean forward!" She commanded, and the team complied, each person leaning in closer to the next. Dave seemed pretty enthusiastic about leaning in close to Sky, and Sugar gave a little smile as Leonard leaned into her. As the team began to speed up, Beardo trumpeted a charge.

Just as Sky planned, the Rats became faster, and soon passed the Maggots.

"And it looks like the Rats have made a comeback," Topher narrated, though a bit worried. "Can the Maggots make a comeback of their own?"

Down at the campgrounds, Chris and Chef relaxed in lawn chairs. Behind them was one of the cabins from the first season on the right, and a newer, bigger, and fancier cabin to the left.

Chris reclined in his chair while Chef read a book. "Ah," he sighed contently, "feels good to be back."

Right as he finished that thought, Owen ran up to the two of them, panting. "Hey, Chris! Get this, the boat wouldn't stop!"

"Oh look," Chris said to the viewers at home, "it's former player Owen, who's not competing this year."

"Yeah, so I swam back to tell you," Owen continued to explain until the implications of Chris' words caught up to him. He clutched the sides of his head in shock. "What?! Not competing?!"

Chris nodded. "I'm afraid you and the other classic players have outlived your usefulness. Chef!" He snapped his fingers.

Chef slapped one of the explosive devices from earlier onto Owen's face. As it beeped ominously, Owen panicked, and ran off while screaming. As soon as he was far enough away, Chris took out a remote, and pressed the button on it.

The view switched to the Thousand-Foot-High Cliff, at the base of which a small explosion rang out, and Owen could be seen flying through the distance as a trail of smoke arcing over it.

Back at the campgrounds, the host and his cook shared a laugh at Owen's expense. Their laughter quieted when they heard more voices, and turned their heads in the direction they seemed to be coming from.

At the bottom of the hill, the Rats came zipping down, and soared off a small ledge. They cheered as they came to a stop near the two men.

"That was amazin'! Let's do that again!" Sugar gleefully shouted, throwing her hands in the air.

"Tick tock!" Chris reminded them.

The timer on the Rats' totem was under fifteen seconds, and quickly approaching ten.

"Quick, grab the good cabin!" Dave shouted, his panic increasing.

The team lifted up their totem as one, and carried it over to a stump sitting in the middle of camp. As they set it on the stump, the countdown timer stopped, flashing at one second to spare. Seeing as their totem did not explode, the team saw reason to start cheering, believing they had won the challenge. They stopped cheering, however, when they heard the cries of the other team.

Like the Rats, the Maggots came down to the bottom of the hill, and flew off the same ledge they did, only they lost control of their totem and fell off of it. The totem itself crashed into the good cabin that the Rats had just claimed, and exploded as the timer ran out, taking the cabin with it. Chunks of wood rained down as there was nothing left standing of the cabin itself.

The Rats stared at the remains, flabbergasted that had just happened.

Chris shook his head as he and Chef walked over to them. "Too bad," he said to them, "it had an eight-person hot tub and air conditioning."

The team groaned at the loss of their new cabin and its amenities. One of them brightened up quickly, though.

"No worries, brethren," Leonard proclaimed, taking out his wand again. "I can just cast a fixing spell, and make the cabin fix itself." He waved the wand around, chanting, "Wibbly-wobbly woo, put this shelter back together like brand new!" Nothing happened and he frowned, looking down at his wand. "Why isn't this working? It worked back home. There must be some non-believers blocking my magical energy." As he mused, he failed to notice the irritated scowl he was getting from Dave, the skeptical frowns from Sky and Shawn, the blank stare from Beardo, and the genuine interest from Ella and Sugar.

"Regardless," Chris said with a smile, clearly enjoying with Chef the attention Leonard was getting from his team. "As the only team with a cabin still standing, the Mutant Maggots win the first challenge!" He shot finger pistols at the winning team, and the camera zoomed out to show the team recovering from their crash. They weakly cheered in response, still in pain.

"Where are we supposed to sleep?" Sky inquired, walking up to Chris.

The host held up a hand. "No worries, we have a backup cabin for you. It's as every bit of nice as the one you lost."

Sharply contrasting what they were told by Chris, a helicopter flew over the campgrounds and dropped a cabin identical to the remaining one in the place the other, nicer cabin once stood. The Rats groaned in disgust at their new cabin.

Sky shrugged uncertainly. "It's better than nothing, I guess…"

"Team Rat, I'll see you at the first campfire ceremony of the season." Chris informed the team, drawing their attention away from their new abode. He concluded the instructions with a high-five he shared with Chef, both of them lightly laughing at the campers' misfortune.

* * *

Later that night at the bonfire ceremony, the Toxic Rats were already gathered. Dave opted to sit in the front row next to the campfire with Sky, and Beardo sat next to them. Shawn also sat in the front row, but a stump separated him from Beardo. In the back row, Leonard sat in the middle with Ella and Sugar on either side of him. Chris stood at his oil drum podium, a plate of marshmallows sitting on top of it.

Chris announced, "The votes have been cast. Those who receive a regular marshmallow can stay, but this season, one person will receive a very special marshmallow- a marshmallow you do not want to eat." At that point, Chef walked up to the bonfire, wearing a hazmat suit and holding a metal box. He opened the box to reveal a glowing, green marshmallow. "Whoever receives the Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom is out of the game, which means they cannot come back. Ever!" Chris proceeded to pick up a marshmallow. "The following players are safe- Sky!"

Sky happily caught a marshmallow, and Dave smiled in support.

"Beardo!" The hairy teen cupped his hands, and caught the marshmallow.

"Shawn!" Though not really interested in the marshmallow, Shawn caught it anyway.

"Sugar!" She happily caught the marshmallow with one hand, and immediately stuffed it in her mouth.

"Ella!" Sugar frowned at Ella as the fairytale princess received her treat.

Leonard and Dave, the only two team members without a marshmallow, tensed up as they realized their position. Only one marshmallow remained on Chris' plate and the other was a marshmallow that symbolized their elimination.

"And the Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom goes to…" the host began to announce. Dave started to sweat, causing him to grimace and quickly take out his hand sanitizer. Behind him, Leonard clenched his eyes and fists shut while whisper-chanting "Don't pick me, don't pick me." Using tongs, Chef plucked the glowing marshmallow out of its box. "Leonard!"

Dave exhaled a sigh of relief, and Sugar stood up, raising a hand to her forehead.

"No!" She cried dramatically, falling in front of Leonard.

"Leonard, pack your potions," Chris said as Chef lobbed the glowing marshmallow in Leonard's direction.

"Me?!" Leonard cried out, briefly shrieking as he dodged the marshmallow. The marshmallow sizzled as it sunk into the ground behind the stump seats. Everyone was quick to distance themselves from the spot. "This can't be!" He raised his arms, and closed his eyes, concentrating. "Magic moats and armpit smells, bring forth a time-reversal spell!"

Some footsteps sounded as feet marched toward him. One arm was seized by the gloved hand of Chef Hatchet, and the role-player was tugged off-screen.

Chef marched over to Chris with Leonard slung over one shoulder.

"Nothing? So weird," Chris joked. "Don't worry, Leonard. I think I've got something that fits your era. You'll love it."

A flip transition switched the scene to the Dock of Shame, where a giant, wooden catapult stood. Leonard was sitting in the bucket of the device while Chris and Chef, now out of his hazmat suit, stood off to the side.

"Say hello to the Hurl of Shame, patent pending." Chris introduced.

"You know what? You're right. I do love it," Leonard spoke up, patting the rim of the bucket. "It reminds me of the catapults back home."

As Chris walked around to the lever of the catapult, Sugar ran up to Leonard. "I love you, Wizard!"

Leonard smiled at her. "I'll miss you too, fair mai-deeeeeennnnn!" The catapult flung him into the night sky, and his voice faded with distance.

Chris smirked at Leonard's exit and Sugar's sadness at Leonard being gone. Chuckling he told the camera, "One down, thirteen to go! Who's next in line? Find out next time right here on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"

As Chris did his outro, the last scene on camera was a view of the island against the night sky.

(Fade to credits)

* * *

**Leonard- 14th**

**And thus begins Cast Swap. I came up with the idea back in 2015 when I was still fresh from Pahkitew Island. I had drafted the original elimination order, but I had some favoritism issues. The idea eventually fell into the back of my mind, and only recently came to the forefront again. Looking over my original drafts, I knew I had to make tweaks, and made them. Leonard was not one of those tweaks. Sorry, Leonard fans. If you want a story where Leonard is not out first, check out my friend Fangren and their 'Total Shuffled' series. They are a fantastic writer, and comes up with the best twists in their take on a shuffled cast.**

**If a review could be left in the box below, that would be great. Reviews are awesome!**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is also cross-posted on Fanfiction.net


	2. TDRI Episode 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining thirteen campers participate in a game that reveals a few secrets about each other, and then run a relay through a dangerous and dirty obstacle course.

Episode 2- Truth or Mutant Shark

"Last time on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, fourteen new campers were blown away by this year's challenges. They were treated to an early morning swim, said hello to the island's wildlife, and did some totem surfing. Explosive!" Chris narrated as the episode's opener played clips of the previous episode. In the end, Leonard's team got annoyed with his non-existent magic, and got sent packing Hurl of Shame style." The clips ended on Leonard being shot out of the catapult, and Sugar in attendance of the event. A flash transitioned to Chris at the present on the dock. "Who will be going home next, and how much pain can I put them through first? Find out right now on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"

(cue theme song)

* * *

The sky was tinted orange with early morning sun, and birds could be heard tweeting. The camera zoomed out to display both cabins, and a voice was heard vocalizing in harmony with the bird tweets.

"Very good," Ella's voice said after the vocalizing and tweeting ended. The scene shifted to inside the girls' side of the Rats cabin. Ella sat on the top bunk of the left hand side of the room, a little blue bird perched on her outstretched finger. "Now, let's try a pitch lower." She then vocalized the same tune as she did previously, but slightly lower. The bird attempted to join in, half-succeeding and half-failing at lowering its pitch.

Across the room, Sugar slept on the bottom bunk of a set of beds, and she had a sleeping mask over her eyes. Her face visibly twitched at Ella and the bird's practice, and after listening to it for a few more seconds, she sat upright. "Would you shut yer trap?! I'm trying to get mah beauty sleep over here!"

Ella stopped vocalizing, as did the bird, and they both looked over to her. "Oh, my apologies. I didn't realize I was disturbing you. You appeared to be sleeping fine a little bit ago so I thought it was alright."

"Well, it's not! I get up pretty early back on the farm, and even I know it's too early for that noise!" The pageant queen snapped, pointing absently in Ella's direction.

"Again, my apologies. I'll stop," Ella reiterated sincerely. The bird left her finger, and started flying to the cabin door.

Sky, already dressed for the day, entered the cabin and allowed the bird to fly out before letting it close. She seemed puzzled by a bird being in the cabin.

Huffing, Sugar slumped back into her pillow. "Stupid goody-goody…" She mumbled, shifting onto her side as she attempted to get back to sleep.

* * *

In the boys' side of the cabin, only Beardo appeared to be asleep in bed on the bottom-right bunk. He snored as he slept, and made several different noises as he slept such as a gym coach's whistle, a piano key being played, and an elephant trumpet. He was startled from his slumber after the last one when the door to the cabin slammed. The human soundboard made a sound of exclamation that sounded eerily like the exclamation point from Metal Gear, his eyes snapping open and looking towards the door.

Dave stood in front of the closed cabin door, his back pressed against it and his arms outstretched as if he was trying to prevent someone from getting into the cabin. His hair was disheveled, some dirt seemed to be on his face, and his sweater vest was half-untucked. He stood there, panting heavily.

Beardo made a noise of inquiry.

"What was I doing? I was, uh, looking for the immunity idol. Yeah, that's it." Dave answered rather nervously as his heart rate went down. Alarmed, Beardo jumped out of bed, looking at Dave with shock. "Before you ask, no, I did not find it. Something… got in my way."

The scene flashed to Dave a little earlier in the morning, where he was being chased by a big, wooly beaver that seemed to have grown spikes into its back and an extra tail. Dave screamed as he ran, and the beaver growled as it gave chase.

Returning to the present, Dave sighed as he folded his arms over his chest. "Guess that bush was a no-go for a hiding spot." He noticed Beardo giving him a look. "Don't give me that look, you'd try and look for it too. Given how we tanked yesterday, it might not hurt to have a little extra insurance, and trust me, I know about insurance."

* * *

(Confessional-Dave)

In Dave's confessional, he appeared to have cleaned up. Dirt was no longer on his face, his vest was tucked in, and his hair was perfectly combed. "Okay, I lied. I wasn't really looking for the idol. I was actually trying to impress that girl on my team, Sky. She rocked the challenge yesterday, and since she seems to be the athletic type, I figured she'd go out and do a morning run. I thought maybe if I woke up early and did a morning run too, we'd pass each other and she'd be impressed with me. Since we didn't pass each other, I think it's safe to say that failed."

* * *

After Dave's confessional concluded, the focus returned to the cabins. This time, the camera zoomed in on the Maggots' cabin as a shout of "Samey!" was heard.

In the girls' side of the Maggots' cabin, Amy appeared to be digging through her luggage. "Where's your hair dryer? I can't find mine, and I need it."

Sitting on her bunk, the lower left-hand side one, Sammy shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, but I can't find mine either."

"Chris most likely confiscated them along with everything else electronic everyone may have brought," Scarlett proposed, walking over to the twins from the right side of the room. "I had a very sophisticated calculator in my luggage that appears to be missing as well."

"First these crappy beds, and now Chris takes our stuff? I hate this camp!" Amy raged, standing up and stomping a boot on the floor.

* * *

The camera panned from the left side of the Maggots' cabin to the right. Inside the boys' side, all three males slept in their beds. Rodney slept on the bottom left bunk, Max slept on the bottom right bunk, and Topher had the top bunk above Max. Given Rodney's large shape, the bunk was almost comically tiny in comparison to him.

"Hnn," Rodney mumbled in his sleep as the camera focused on him. "Mary… Daisy… Hannah… Bonnie… Rebecca… Destiny…"

* * *

(Confessional- Rodney)

Hunched over in the outhouse, Rodney leaned in towards the camera, confessing, "The bed was pretty small. I was afraid I might break it halfway through the night. If I do, I'll just sleep on the floor. That has more room."

* * *

Up on a tree branch in a tree somewhere, Shawn awoke with a yawn, and stretched his arms. Briefly scratching his back, he swung a leg over, and dropped down from his perch. Down on the ground, Jasmine knelt on one knee as she inspected the leaves on a plant. Shawn's landing made her jump, and she whirled around, coming face to face with him.

"Aaah!" Jasmine screamed, caught off-guard.

"AAAAHH!" Shawn screeched right back in surprise.

"What're you doing out here?!" They asked each other, pointing at each other at the same time. They fell silent, staring at each other.

"I," Jasmine started to say hesitantly as she gestured to the plant she was examining, "was just looking at the local plants. Considering what we saw yesterday with that squirrel, I thought it might not hurt to do some poking around. You?"

"I just woke up," he answered, jabbing his thumb upward. "I slept up there."

Jasmine followed his thumb, and spotted the branch Shawn had slept on. "You sleep in trees too?"

Shawn nodded, "Yeah, if I sleep indoors, I might get attacked by a zombie in the middle of the night. Zombies can't climb so- wait, too?" He raised an eyebrow, glancing at her. "You sleep in trees?"

"Yeah, the beds in the cabin were too small for my tastes so I slept out here. That's my post over there," Jasmine pointed at a tree not too far away. Shawn could barely see a length of rope wrapped around one of the branches.

The conspiracy theorist let out a laugh. "I thought I was the only one here that slept in trees."

Jasmine let out a chuckle of her own. "I guess not. Survival types like us think alike, huh?"

"I suppose so," Shawn smiled.

* * *

(Confessional- Jasmine)

Jasmine continued to laugh in the outhouse. "Not only is the guy cute," she said after finally getting a handle on her laughter, "he's kinda hilarious." She began to snicker again, "Zombies…"

* * *

A seagull slept soundly in a nest inside one of the camp's loudspeakers. Its peaceful slumber came to a stop when the loudspeaker turned on, emitting a loud squeal of static. The seagull jumped out, a noticeably bizarre tail at its rear, orange and scaly with a rattle at the end.

Chris rode up to the cabins on his ATV. "Up and at 'em my morning glories, it's time for today's challenge!" He declared, the viewpoint shifting around him to show the two gathered teams.

"What, already? I haven't even had two helpings of breakfast yet!" Sugar protested in shock, grabbing at her chubby belly.

"Forget about your petty needs," Max scoffed. He then pointed to his back. "That terrible sleep last night has left my spine uncomfortably bent!"

Rodney perked up with a smile, taking Max into his arms. "Let me help you with that!" He briefly squeezed Max, and soon enough, he heard a crack.

Max yelped as Rodney squeezed him and dropped him on his rear. "Confound it, fool! You could've killed me…" The wannabe villain complained when he started feeling much better. "Huh, my spine is cured. Thank you, minion."

"You're welcome." The country boy replied, missing Max's last remark. "Wait, what?"

"You can eat after the challenge," Chris informed them. He then pointed with both arms off in a direction. "Right this way to the Bay of Dismay."

Most of the campers, except for Ella and Topher, groaned in complaint.

"Alright, the Bay of Dismay!" Topher enthused. "Sounds interesting."

Ella clasped her hands together. "Oh, I agree. I love bays."

"That's the spirit," Chris grinned, giving them both finger pistols. "Come on, your humiliation awaits."

* * *

The two teams walked through the woods towards the challenge site in mixed little groups even though they were on different teams. Amy and Sammy led the pack, Jasmine was with Shawn, Dave was with Sky and Beardo, Max was walking beside Scarlett, Rodney and Topher were behind them, leaving Sugar at the back with Ella.

"Bay of Dismay… you think that sounds like it'll be a physical challenge?" Sky wondered out loud.

Dave smiled at her. "I hope so. If you rock this one as great as yesterday, we have it in the bag," he told her confidently and then hesitated, "er, barring any unforeseen circumstances like yesterday."

Panning to the right, the focus landed on the twins. Having overheard Dave, Amy smirked before turning her attention to her sister.

"Speaking of unforeseen circumstances," she began to say. "You sure are lucky that they lost the challenge yesterday. If we had lost, you'd have been gone for sure."

"We don't know that," Sammy countered, uncertain of herself. "And we never will know because we can't reverse the clock."

Amy scowled at Sammy's answer. She scoffed, "We don't need to reverse a clock to know you're a loser. Losers always get voted off first, and the first time we lose a challenge, you'll be the first one voted off the team, just like that nerd from the other team." Quickening her pace, Amy went on ahead, leaving Sammy behind.

Sammy frowned, looking down to her feet. Shortly after Amy's departure, Jasmine came up to match pace with her, glaring at the back of the mean twin's head. "Hey," the Outback explorer got her attention, "don't listen to a thing she says. You're not a loser. You're an underdog. Underdogs have a lot of fight in them."

"You think so?" Sammy asked timidly.

* * *

(Confessional- Sammy)

"Jasmine is really nice. While I was stuck up on the totem yesterday, I heard her defending me against Amy. That's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me, and we've only known each other for less than a day."

* * *

"O-Okay, I'll try!" Sammy promised, a meek smile on her face in response to Jasmine's sincere one. The focus panned left all the way to the back of the pack where Ella and Sugar were.

" _We're walking towards a bay and when we arrive I'm sure we won't know what to say. We don't know what we're going to do, but we don't want a second loss in a roooow."_ Ella sang as she walked, her arms outstretched for pizazz.

"I know what I'm going to say," Sugar hissed venomously before turning to look Ella in the eye, "Shut your face!" Swiftly, Sugar turned around and continued to head towards the Bay of Dismay.

"Gosh, she must still be mad about this morning." Ella murmured as she watched Sugar stomp away furiously before running to catch up with everyone.

* * *

Out in the water, three structures stood. In the middle was a platform Chris was standing on, along with a video monitor and scoreboard on top. On either side of the host's platform were two rows of gallery seats with red buttons situated in front of the contestants. On the left side of Chris' platform were the Toxic Rats, and on the right, the Mutant Maggots.

"Welcome to the Getting-to-Know-You Trivia Game Challenge!" Chris declared grandly from his platform.

Topher leaned in his seat eagerly. "Hey, your Total Drama Action tuxedo! It looks more amazing in person, Chris!" Topher sat on the upper left corner of his team's seats, Rodney to his right, and Amy and Sammy furthest right. In the row below, Jasmine sat in front of the twins with Scarlett to her left, and Max in the bottom left corner below Topher and Rodney.

Chris gave a little bow in the Maggots' direction, saying, "Thank you, Topher!" The host stood upright, and asked, "Everyone nice and snug?"

"Um, Chris, can I get a bigger harness?" Rodney spoke up, his hands pulling at the harness on his body. "I think mine is a little too small. It's digging into my shoulders."

Chris only laughed at Rodney's torment. "That's what you get with children size harnesses. I'll be asking our players embarrassing questions, and I mean majorly humiliating. If the player I'm talking about owns up and hits the poorly-wired buzzer and owns their humiliation before time runs out, their team gets a point. First team to five wins part one and a distinct advantage in part two." He explained, and then held up a finger. "But, if no one owns up, this happens." Pulling a remote out of his back pocket, he pressed the single button on it.

The Mutant Maggots' seats sunk under the water, forcing them all to hold their breath. While under, Max spotted something that scared him into releasing his breath. In front of the team's seats was the same legged shark from the season's opening theme. The shark barred its teeth, frightening the whole team. He opened his mouth, and moved to take a bite when the seats rose up out of the water. Sputtering, the team coughed out the water they had accidentally inhaled.

"There's, like, some freaky shark thing down there!" Amy shrieked at Chris.

"You mean Fang?" Chris inquired, and then let out a chuckle. He pointed up to the monitor above him. "Yeah, turns out toxic waste can affect stuff underwater too. Who knew?" The monitor showed a normal shark sitting in the water, somehow enjoying a cup of tea, and then the image shifted to an image of Fang as he was now.

"That's… really messed up," Shawn commented. Shawn sat in the middle of the back row of his team's seats. To the left of Shawn sat Beardo, and on his right was Dave. The girls all sat in the front row, Sugar on the far right, Sky in the middle, and Ella on the left.

Going on as if Shawn hadn't spoken, Chris explained, "Anywho, when a team gets dunked, their opponents can steal by guessing which dunk-ee is guilty. Guess right, and you get a point. Guess wrong, and this happens." Chris once more pressed the button on his remote, only this time the Rats were the ones to go down.

Down below, Fang managed to tie a bib around his neck. He noticed the Rats descending behind him, and turned to face them. Not wasting any time, he opened his mouth, causing the team to gasp.

Bubbles formed on the water's surface, and Chris stood on his platform, smugly awaiting the correct moment to bring them back up. After a moment, he pressed the button, and the team rose out of the water, them and their seats appearing wet but unharmed.

"Now that we understand the rules, let's start the game!" The host declared, pulling out a card from behind his back. "To the rats, now listen carefully- 'Who does this when they're nervous, or likes a boy?'" Chris pointed up to the monitor, which played a burping sound effect.

Everyone except Sky and Ella laughed at the sound. Whereas Ella appeared to not laugh out of concern, Sky did not laugh out of embarrassment as her cheeks turned red. "Who told you that?" She demanded to Chris as she reluctantly pressed the buzzer in front of her. "Ow!" Ella gasped at Sky's pain, and above Sky, Dave abruptly stopped laughing when he learned whose secret that was.

The scoreboard dinged as the Rats gained their first point.

"Who becomes a flustered mess when it comes to girls?" Chris went on, turning to the Maggots for their question.

Dave raised an eyebrow. "First Sky's thing about liking guys, and now embarrassing someone who has difficulty talking to girls? Is he trying to make romantic tension?"

Topher kicked back in his seat with his legs up on the counter and his hands behind his head, waiting for someone to own up. Scarlett disinterestedly examined her fingernails. Glancing over her team, Jasmine noticed that out of all of them, Rodney was the most nervous.

"Looks like that's you big guy, just bark it out," she advised.

Reluctantly, Rodney slouched in his seat, and sighed as he pressed the button. "Ow! Okay, yeah, it's me…"

No one really laughed at Rodney, except Sugar, who snorted and began a full-out laugh. After a few seconds, she noticed the stares she was getting from her teammates. "That was about somethin' else," she quickly lied.

"And it's one all," Chris announced as the scoreboard added a point to the Maggots' side. The Maggots cheered, except Rodney, who tried to shrink into his seat.

"Thanks for doing that, Rodney. That was really brave of you," Sammy thanked him gently.

Amy rolled her eyes at her sister's kindness, and patted the country boy on the arm. "Yeah, same or whatever."

At Amy's touch, Rodney suddenly became more alert, and he took to staring at her with starry eyes. In his eyes, hearts and cherubs surrounded Amy, who looked at him with a confused expression on her face. He began to blush and babble.

* * *

(Confessional- Rodney)

Rodney was curled up on the outhouse toilet, his feet against the wall, and staring into bliss. "She thinks I'm brave. She admires me, and now I admire her…"

* * *

"Rats," Chris began the next question, "who got banned from their local mall?"

Dave's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Banned from the mall? Seriously? Who here would get themselves banned from a mall?"

No one said anything. Beardo thought of a potential answer, and glanced down below him at Sugar, who answered with a dirty glance for the assumption. Shawn shrugged, not really caring; Sky tapped her chin in thought. On the end, Ella twiddled with her fingers, gazing at the button. Resigning herself, Ella reached out, and pressed the button. "Ouch, that stung!" She cried, cradling her hand.

"Correct, it's Ella!" Chris affirmed, causing the other Rats to gasp. "Though, I would've appreciated more of a response."

"No explanation would justify my actions. That is why I'm willing to accept the judgment of my peers," Ella stated, closing her eyes as if she was waiting for her doom.

"Cute, but I don't care. So as a quick punishment," Chris replied, holding up his remote and pressing the button.

The Rats disappeared under the water, holding their breath. While under, Sugar's makeup began to run. She touched her finger to her face, and noticed this when she pulled the finger away. Looking up from her finger, she only had a second to react to Fang chomping his jaws down around her. The seats rose up as Fang licked his chops. His mouth bulged surprisingly, and was then forced open by Sugar herself. She gave him a poke in the eyes, and swam up to the surface.

* * *

(Confessional- Sugar)

She stood in the confessional, her arms crossed and something white poking from her butt. The pageant queen scoffed, shaking her head. "If he thinks he can turn me into his late breakfast, he's got another thing comin'!" Confusion taking over her scowl, Sugar reached behind her, and yanked the white object out, revealing it as a big tooth. "Whoa, that's a big tooth! What's this from?"

* * *

(Confessional- Fang)

The shark used a mirror to look at the gap in his teeth. Clearly unhappy, he growled, and snapped the mirror in half.

* * *

Back at the challenge, Sugar clambered back into her seat. The pageant queen touched her finger to her face again, and examined her running makeup. "Well, shoot! All this dunking is making my makeup run! I can't do this challenge if my makeup is running. Can we take a break so I can re-apply?" She asked Chris.

"That's a good point," Amy agreed from the Maggots' side, drawing all eyes on her, including Rodney's lovestruck gaze. "Unlike this hideous monster over here," she jabbed her thumb at her sister sitting next to her, "make-up actually looks good on me."

"Hey, speaking of makeup," Topher spoke up from the other end while raising a hand. "Chris, can we talk about your crow's feet?" Topher pointed to Chris.

"Crow's feet?!" Chris repeated, visibly becoming uneasy. "Hey, listen this-"

Dave unbuckled his harness, and stood up. "You know what? I'm all for taking a break. In fact, how about we just skip this challenge, huh? I certainly don't feel comfortable having my secrets brought up."

"But how are we supposed to win if you leave?" Sky questioned, twisting around to look up at him.

"Hah, like you were going to win to begin with!" Max sneered, cackling. His cackling abruptly ceased the moment Fang jumped out of the water, and took a bite out of the Maggots' seats. The wannabe villain screamed, and jumped into a surprised Scarlett's arms while the rest of the team panicked at the sight of Fang causing damage.

Seeing the damage to the Maggots' seats, Shawn yelped while unbuckling his harness. "Okay, that's my cue to get out of here!" Beside him, Beardo began wailing an alarm siren.

Jasmine started to argue with Amy, and Sammy attempted to interject. Scarlett, no longer surprised and rather downright annoyed, dropped Max onto the floor; Topher continued to try and bring attention to Chris' appearance; and Rodney stared at Amy lovingly. Beardo continued making noises, prompting Dave to tell him to shut up; Ella attempted to reason with Sugar, causing the pageant queen to yell at her while Sky tried to keep the peace.

Livid by this point, Chris straightened his back, and shouted, "Alright, shut it!" The shout seemed to bring all conflict to a halt. "Thanks to that pathetic digression, we don't have time to finish this challenge. Happy?" He told them all sternly.

The Rats all voiced their agreement, though Ella's was the only hesitant voice among them.

The Maggots also agreed, but several of them were half-hearted about it due to being distracted by other things.

"Well, you won't be happy for long. Come back after the break for an all-new challenge, from which there is no escape!" Chris declared to the camera. "And in the meantime…" Holding up his remote, he pressed it, and both sets of seats sunk down into the water with yelps of fright from the campers. The show faded to black.

* * *

When the show returned, there was a brief shot of the trees before returning to the group of campers all dried and walking through the forest in their teams instead of as one big group like before. In the time unseen, Sugar had a chance to redo her makeup, making it look as if she was never wet in the first place, and her makeup never ran.

"I'm glad that the challenge ended early," Sammy told Jasmine as she walked with her at the front of the team. "It would've been awful for Chris to ask me an embarrassing question."

"Oh, you mean like how you still suck your thumb in your sleep? That wouldn't matter. Everyone here knows you're already a baby, anyway." Amy spoke up from behind, a smirk on her face. Topher, Max, and Rodney all laughed while Scarlett only smirked.

"Um," Sammy spoke up amidst the laughter, "that's not one of my secrets. That's one of yours."

Sammy leaned close to Jasmine, and Jasmine bended over so Sammy could whisper to her. "Just so we're clear, she's the one that still sucks her thumb while sleeping." Jasmine nodded in understanding, smiling.

* * *

(Confessional- Sammy)

"Thumb sucking is definitely Amy's thing," Sammy said in the outhouse. "She likes to dump all of her secrets on me to make herself look perfect and make me look like a mess. For example, did you know she always makes me pay when we go to the movies?"

* * *

(Confessional- Amy)

Amy scowled, sitting in the confessional. "After I was born, Mommy and I had to wait seventeen minutes for Samey to come out. Can you imagine? If I could've walked, I would've left without her."

* * *

As the Rats continued to their next destination, Dave and Sky held back.

"Sorry Chris embarrassed you like that, it wasn't cool," Dave told the gymnast.

Sky sighed, "No, it wasn't. Ugh, it's so gross." She held her face in her hands.

Dave quickly held up his hands. "Hey, hey, it's okay. It's actually kind of cute."

Sky paused, and then lifted her face out of her hands. "Really?"

The normal guy smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, yeah. Everyone has a tic or something that happens when they do something. Burping when you're nervous is just another one of those tics."

"I never thought of it like that. The way you put it, it sounds so… normal."

Dave chuckled a little. "Hey, in a place like this, a little normal is good."

Giggling, Sky smiled at him, beginning to blush.

Ahead of the two, Ella watched over her shoulder, a bright grin on her face. She turned to Shawn. "Isn't that beautiful? He's making her feel better about herself."

Not even looking back to see what Ella was talking about, Shawn raised an eyebrow. "Um, sure, if you say so."

* * *

(Confessional- Shawn)

"Relationships are nothing but trouble," he stated. "When you start caring about someone more than yourself, you aren't preserving yourself, and self-preservation is important when it comes to the zombie apocalypse. While I'm on this island, you won't see me hooking up with a chick."

* * *

"Welcome, players!" Chris' voice boomed over the loudspeakers as the two teams arrived in a muddy area. "It's time for part two of today's challenge- The Mad Skills Obstacle Course!" The viewers were then shown a giant boot mechanism above a wooden platform. "The relay race begins with a mad dash from the Kick Start. Forget coffee, this baby doesn't get you going, nothing will." The giant boot made a few practice kicks before the scene switched to a section of cannons mounted around another platform. "Then it's a race against time that is the Cannonball Run." The cannons fired off a round of shots, creating holes in the platform. "Over to my personal fave, Wrecking Ball Alley, hurts so good!" To prove his point, a wrecking ball swung over the rotating logs the camera panned across. "And moving on, we head to the Gangplank, complete with rabid mutant beavers!" A series of high posts were shown, and then the beavers in question were shown gnawing through the supports. "Followed by the bouncy agony of Double Trouble, and finally the Grand Slam, where you'll use ropes to swing into the giant baseball mitt while avoiding those deadly bats!" Last shown were a series of red bulbs vaguely resembling butts pumping up and down, and then a giant baseball glove surrounded by large baseball bats standing in the mud. A bird slammed into one of the bats, and fell to the ground unconscious.

"Piece of cake!" Chris laughed as the campers hesitantly looked at each other. "Oh, and as you may remember, I said the winning team from part one would have a distinct advantage in part two."

"But there was no winner," Jasmine pointed out.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Yeah, don't remind me."

"There was no winner!" Sugar called out.

Unamused by Sugar's antics, Chris continued as if she hadn't spoken. "The losing team was going to wear snazzy specs while competing, but since we never actually finished the competition. I've decided everybody has to wear them."

Chef walked up with a box full of green glasses, and Scarlett, the only member of the cast wearing glasses, took out a pair. She took off her glasses, and put on the new ones.

"Interesting," she hummed as the vision behind the glasses was quite blurry. "The lenses of the glasses appear to have been deliberately made to decrease the wearer's eyesight levels regardless of conditions."

"Dorktacular goggles won't make part two easy, or attractive, but it can be done in theory," quipped Chris. The contestants all groaned at this.

Topher noticed the obstacle course, taking count the number of obstacles, and raised his hand. "Hey, Chris? There's only six obstacles, and we have seven people."

"Already thought of," Chris assured him, and pointed, "Competitors, take your positions!"

* * *

Beardo and Topher stood at the Kick Start section, Beardo already having his glasses on while Topher skeptically inspected them before putting them on himself. "First up at the Kick Start, it's Beardo versus Topher." Scarlett and Ella both had their glasses on, and were reaching their arms out to feel around since everything was so blurry in their vision. "Then it's Ella versus Scarlett versus the cannonballs." Jasmine smiled at Shawn, though he did not smile back, instead trying to see through his glasses. "Shawn faces Jasmine in Wrecking Ball Alley." Up at the beginning point of the Gangplank, Rodney stood still, trying not to fall from the high point, and Sugar sat on the edge, kicking her legs absentmindedly. "Sugar is up against Rodney at the Gangplank." Max scowled and Sky appeared hesitant as the camera showed them stationed at Double Trouble. "Sky and Max battle Double Trouble." Dave, Amy, and Sammy stood at the last station, and like Scarlett and Ella, Dave was reaching his hands out to try and find where stuff was. "And Dave will fight Amy and Samey for the Grand Slam. First team to finish wins the whole shebang, and the other team loses a member tonight.

"Since it's a relay race, you'll need something to pass- your mascots!" announced Chris. "Oh, intern!"

The gloomy intern walked up to Beardo and Topher, carrying a crate in each hand. Beardo and Topher exchanged looks as the intern retrieved the creatures from their crates. Wearing yellow, rubber gloves, the intern held a snarling, six-pawed, hairless rat in Beardo's face. "Team Rat gets a mutant rat," Chris explained as Beardo took the rat in his hands, "And Team Maggot gets a mutant maggot." Topher was handed a green maggot that was dripping ooze from its mouth.

Topher made a noise of disgust as he accepted the maggot, and Beardo let out a similar but stronger hiss to the rat, scaring it into calming down.

Once both competitors had their team's mascot, Chris held up an air horn. "And go!" He hit the button on the horn.

Right off the bat, the giant boot came down swinging, and kicked Beardo right off the platform. Beardo let out a scream that sounded like it was actually his.

"And Beardo gets the boot!" Chris commented off-screen.

Down in the mud below the platforms, a dazed Beardo laid on the ground with no rat in sight. His afro shuffled a bit, and the rat poked its head out of the massive amount of hair, clearly confused. Even in his dazed state, Beardo managed to make a 'chirp, chirp, chirp!' sound mimicking cartoons where birds circled around a confused person's head.

Above him, Topher eagerly hopped across the platforms with the maggot tucked under his arm. "Topher takes-" Chris began to commentate.

"Topher gets his team the early lead with a great start," Topher announced, cutting Chris' own commentary off. Upon reaching Scarlett, Topher held out the maggot. "And he makes a flawless pass to Scarlett!"

Taking the maggot, Scarlett said, "I think the commentary is unnecessary." Without another word, she turned and started heading towards her section of the relay.

Topher huffed, walking away. "She doesn't know anything about show business." As soon as he finished his comment, he blindly stepped in a gap between the platforms, and fell into the mud.

Scarlett ran towards her obstacle, holding the maggot in her hands. As she ran, she collided face first with a wooden pole. She let out a hiss of pain, clutching her head with one hand. "Okay," she murmured to herself as she took two steps closer to the camera, "two paces to the pole's right." She made it another few steps, and then the cannonballs started firing, forcing her to stop. After a rapid succession of cannon fire, Scarlett hummed to herself, "Alright, can't go any further without a plan. If I could just calculate the pattern for the cannons…"

Meanwhile, Beardo successfully climbed back up onto the platforms, and hopped the gaps to the next leg. Letting out a short trumpet of success, he handed the rat to Ella.

"Thank you so much!" Ella smiled gratefully to Beardo, who gave her a thumbs-up as she turned to run.

Still doing mental math, Scarlett stood off to the side of the section, allowing Ella to hurry by.

"The Rats take the lead!" Chris announced as Ella approached the cannons, the princess' hurry transforming into a happy skip.

As she entered the zone, she started to dance and sing, " _These glasses almost make me blind, but I don't mind. Sure cannonballs may fire, but this isn't as hard as balancing on a wire."_ As she sang and danced along the path, the cannons fired cannonballs but they all missed her. Ella, along with the rat, did not mind the sound at all and continued to dance to the song.

"Whoa! Ella just aced the Cannonball Run… by singing?!" Chris reported, him and Chef shown watching the feed through a monitor. As he made his announcement, the host looked to his assistant with a confused eyebrow raised.

* * *

(Confessional- Ella)

Ella held the rat in her lap, and a couple birds hovered around her. "I was a huge fan of Total Drama World Tour. The contestants in that season were so lucky to get to do that. I wish I was there. If I was on that season, I would've sung the entire time."

* * *

Dancing her way over to Shawn, Ella passed the mascot over. "Take good care of him, please."

"Huh, we're in the lead? Nice job, Ella," Shawn praised. He turned to face his obstacle. "Okay, here goes." Taking a slow step, he stepped onto the rotating log, at which point he started jogging on top of it. "Aha, there we go-ah!" Just as he was getting into the groove, the rat leaped from his hands to chomp on his head. "Ah, not the head! Not the h-eaaaad!" Distracted by trying to get the rat off his skull, Shawn didn't even see the wrecking ball come swinging behind him. It batted him into the air, over the second rotating log, and to Sugar's feet.

"This isn't good," Jasmine noted, observing Shawn's increase in the lead and turning back towards the Cannonball Run. "Scarlett, hurry it up over there!"

The maggot crawling at her feet, Scarlett drew imaginary numbers in the air, and finally declared, "Got it!" Picking up the maggot, she rushed through the area to Jasmine as the cannons fired, dodging every which way. "Sorry for the delay. Couldn't make any mathematical errors," the genius apologized, passing the maggot to the unofficial team leader.

"It's fine. I can take it from here." Jasmine hurried away to start on the logs.

Standing up, Shawn shoved the rat into Sugar's hands. "Here! Take the little brain muncher!"

Though she couldn't really see much through the specs, she thought the rat looked a little cute. "Aw, who's a cute little varmint? You are, you are." She hugged the rat, almost squeezing the life out of it, and the rat fought to get itself some air.

"Sugar, the challenge?" Shawn reminded the pageant queen while she was still hugging the mutated creature.

The pageant queen stopped hugging the rat and looked at Shawn, "What? Oh right! Yeah, I'm going to win this thing. It's Sugar Time!" Still holding the rat close to her, Sugar jumped on the first platform and noticed it was a little wobbly. A glance down below told her that the beavers were gnawing away at the support beam holding the platform up. "Hey! Quit that! I'm trying to win the pageant up here!" She yelled down at them. Unfortunately, it was too late. The support beam was already eaten through, and the whole platform came down, taking Sugar and the Rats' mascot with it.

Down in the mud, Sugar sat up, the rat in one arm. Lifting up her free one, she smiled. "Hey, a mud bath! I've been needing one of those." Nearby growling caught her attention, and she looked up, seeing two snarling mutant beavers. "This don't look so good, does it?"

Back at Wrecking Ball Alley, Jasmine had little trouble getting across. Having seen Shawn get hit earlier, the Outback explorer was prepared for when the ball tried to strike her. Once it got close to her, she jumped on it. "Got to do better than that, mate!" She told the machine, leaping off when it reached the height of its arc.

Now standing, Sugar was still confronted with the beavers. "Listen, I've wrangled with pigs as big as you two! Do you really want to go up against me?" She challenged the beavers. They merely growled at her. "Well, I tried…" Darting her eyes around, she soon got an idea. Dramatically, she pointed past the beavers. "Look over there! A girl beaver's checking you two out!"

Amazingly, the beavers bought it, and looked in the direction Sugar pointed. Quietly chuckling to herself, Sugar ran off. Moments after she left the vicinity, the beavers realized they had been tricked, whirling around and expecting to see Sugar, but she was gone. The two growled.

"Your turn," Jasmine simply stated as she passed the maggot to Rodney.

While they were passing the maggot, their hands touched and Rodney got this love-struck look in his eyes as he stared at Jasmine, who became confused by his behavior.

* * *

(Confessional- Rodney)

Rodney blushed, his cheeks slightly red. "She passed the maggot to me… she trusts me. Every good relationship has trust. It's a sign! We're destined to be together."

* * *

"Um, are you going to take the darn thing or not?" Jasmine asked while he was still in that dazed state.

Rodney shook his head. "Huh, oh yeah. I'll take it." He completed the hand-off and held the maggot in the crook of one of his arms. The farm boy stood there staring at his teammate lovingly. "You… two days… dangerous… wedding…"

The tall Australian gripped his overalls once she got annoyed by his distracted behavior. "Get a hold of yourself and go!" She commanded as she shook him.

"What? Oh yeah!" Rodney snapped back to attention and turned to the Gangplank. Tucking the maggot into the chest pocket of his overalls, the country boy hopped across the first few platforms. Upon reaching the third platform, everything began to wobble. The beavers had gone back to chewing the posts. "Waaah!" He yelled as he fell down.

Finally a safe distance from the beavers, Sugar giggled loudly, pumping her fist as she approached Max and Sky. "Nailed it! Here you go." Sugar made to hand the rat over to Sky, but pulled the rat back at the last second. "Wait! Mama is going to miss her little rodent baby. Mwah!" Giving the rat one last hug and a kiss on the head, to which the rat seemed disgusted and confused, Sugar handed over the rat. "Okay, now you can take him."

"Thanks, I think," Sky took the rat with uncertainty, and began to run. "Okay, Sky. Your vision is impaired, but you can still overcome this obstacle. Here goes!" She pep-talked as she got closer and closer to Double Trouble. To her surprise, she managed to land decently on the first bulb. From there she did a front flip to the next, jumped from that one, jumped over the third bulb with another front flip, and landed on the fourth bulb. On the fourth and last bulb, she jumped to the next platform. However, the bulb's constant moving up and down threw off her balance, and she ended up jumping short of the platform.

On the platform, Dave stood there with his arms outstretched. "I got it! I got it!" As Sky fell short of him with the rat in her hands, he squirmed and brought his hands back to his chest. "No, I don't," he said with a hint of squeamishness.

Having fallen face first in the mud, Sky groaned as she pushed herself up onto her knees. The rat, free from her hold, began scurrying away.

"Hey, get back here! We're not done yet!" Sky got to her feet, and chased after the creature, tripping in the slippery mud in the process.

Back at Double Trouble's starting point, Rodney hauled himself up to where Max was. "Here, take the little guy." The country boy handed the maggot over to Max.

"Fine, if I must," the wannabe villain muttered. Taking the maggot into his hands, he stared at it through the glasses. "Hm, not quite the evil little minion I want, but you'll have to do."

The maggot puked onto his face.

Cringing, Max gagged. "We'll have to work on that." Without another word, he took off at a run towards the bulbs.

"Good luck!" Rodney called, still hanging from the edge of the platform. A beaver paw grabbed onto the back of his overalls, and dragged him back down as he screamed.

Max cackled as he approached his obstacle. "Prepare to face the wrath of me-ouch!" His sinister proclamation abruptly cut off when he jumped onto the first bulb, painfully landing on his stomach. The bulb bounced him onto the next one, where he landed on his back that time, and the process repeated for the other two, and he finally fell on his face in front of the twins.

"And with Max's bumbling performance, the Maggots retake the lead!" Chris announced.

"Haha, wow! That was so lame!" Amy sneered, and took the maggot from Max. Almost immediately, she shoved it in her sister's arms. "Here. I touched it so I think my participation counts, or whatever."

"Uh, I'm not sure if it works like that," Sammy pointed out.

Amy barked out a short laugh. "Oh, I'm pretty sure it does. Trust me."

The camera shifted over to Dave, and Sky arrived with the rat. "Here, sorry it took so long."

"It's fine," Dave told her, and then glanced down at the team's mascot. "Uh, before you pass it to me, could you maybe wipe it off?"

While Sky reluctantly did as Dave asked, concerned that this delay could cost their team the win, the twins went on ahead.

"Look, don't embarrass yourself more than you already do, and just don't even try to win. Don't try to be a hero," Amy told her sister as they jogged.

Sammy frowned, "But… I want to try."

"Well don't," Amy responded flippantly, "trying is for people, like me and not you, who are actually good at it."

"I don't care. Trying is better than not trying at all," Sammy replied, and the twin cheerleaders reached the Grand Slam. They stood at the edge, staring at the finishing point of the challenge.

Almost immediately, Amy side-eyed her sister, and stated, "You're not going to make it."

Down below in the mud, Rodney found himself stuck between the two beavers. "You guys really don't want to hurt me, do you?" Rodney asked, looking between them. "I have a girlfriend to think about, maybe two. Do you really want a broken heart, or two on your conscience?" The beavers looked between themselves, chattering to one another. One of them drew a heart cracked in two in the mud. "Oh, you guys want to find a girlfriend too? I get how that feels, like a lot." The two beavers chittered, pounding their double tails in the mud, and enveloping Rodney in a hug. "Aw, that's right. Us guys looking for love need to stick together. Bring it in." Rodney wrapped one arm around the middle of each, and squeezed. The beavers began to gasp for air, surprised by Rodney's strength.

"I'm telling you, you're not going to make it," Amy continued to argue when the scene switched back to them.

Sammy had her back turned at her sister, and grabbed one of the two ropes available. "Still going to try."

"Samey, don't you dare-!"

The mean twin's sister leaped, and swung away from the platform. Just as she left, Dave arrived with a clean mutant rat in his arms. He lout a "No!" as he came onto the screen. Sammy's swing seemed to be clear, avoiding the bats and heading straight for the glove. When she got close enough, she planted her feet on the glove, but too much of her balance was off. She tried to maintain position, but her boots ultimately caused her to fall, not quite reaching the intended goal.

With a plop into the mud, Sammy groaned as she sat there, all dirtied up and the maggot in her lap.

"Okay, Dave… you can do this. It's a straight shot to the glove. Just one swing, and that's it. One swing without hitting those tough-looking bats, and one swing without falling into the gross, dirty mud." Dave attempted to coach himself, grasping the other remaining rope in one hand, and cradling the rat in his other arm. Off to the side, Amy watched with an uncaring expression, not even attempting to stop Dave from finishing the challenge.

"Come on, Dave! Do it!" Sky encouraged, followed by other vocal support from the rest of the team.

Beads of sweat formed on Dave's forehead. The rat seemed to notice sweat on the boy's arm as well. "Alright, you can do it. On three! One… two…"

At that moment, Sammy returned to the platform with the maggot, splotches of mud all over the two of them. "Eugh, I'm covered in mud…" The nice twin whimpered.

Caught off-guard by Sammy's return, Dave whirled around, screaming in fright the moment he saw her all filthy. He attempted to take a step back, but found nothing but air. Faltering, he accidentally began to swing towards the glove. Along the way, he slammed into nearly every bat surrounding the area. Reaching the glove, he slipped off the rope, falling on his face. The rat blinked as it somehow landed on Dave's head.

"The Rats win!" Chris declared, causing the other Rats to cheer. "To the Rats the spoils- McLean brand soap, shampoo, and conditioner guaranteed to wash off the stink."

"I dunno. Stink isn't so bad." Shawn remarked, earning a weird look from Ella and Sky. Beardo and Sugar shrugged, not disagreeing with him.

Chris shot a finger pistol at the Maggots. "Maggots, see you at the elimination ceremony!"

The five watching teammates groaned at the loss.

Amy walked over with Sammy in tow. "I told her not to go for it," she said arrogantly as Sammy hung her head.

Jasmine glared at her, unseen by her teammates.

* * *

Later that evening, Jasmine stood in front of the Maggots' cabin. Rodney, Topher, Max, and Scarlett were all sitting on the cabin porch, and the twins were nowhere in sight.

"Okay, we've probably got not much time before the twins come back so let's make this quick," Jasmine hurried along. "I think we need to vote for Amy tonight."

"Why? I thought it was Samey that screwed up in the end," Topher spoke up, reclining back as best he could on the steps.

Jasmine scowled at Topher's words. "She didn't screw up. She tried, unlike Amy. Amy did nothing to try and help us today. All she ever seems to do is boss her sister around, and tries to make her look bad in comparison to her."

"Anything for you…" Rodney murmured, blushing until he realized what he said. "Wait, huh?"

Scarlett adjusted her glasses, saying, "I agree that one of the twins will need to be eliminated. They are clearly distracting to each other, and if we wish to win more challenges in the future, we cannot have any distractions."

"Which one is the mean one? I want to keep her around." Max blurted out, deviously rubbing his hands together. "Her attitude is perfect for my future empire."

"We don't want to keep the mean one. We want to get rid of the mean one." Jasmine corrected him, growing increasingly annoyed.

Max raised an eyebrow, eyeing Jasmine strangely. "Why would we do that?"

The Outback girl facepalmed, and let out an irritated sigh. "Just vote for Amy, please."

* * *

At the bonfire ceremony, Chris stood prepared with the plate of marshmallows in his hands. Beside him stood Chef in his hazmat suit, holding the metal box. Amy sat on the first row's right corner with Sammy to her left, and to Sammy's left sat Jasmine. Topher sat beside Jasmine, and in the back row, Scarlett sat behind Topher, to her right sat Max, and Rodney to the right of him.

"Ready?" Chris questioned to the team. "Everyone gets a marshmallow, even the loser. But that's one marshmallow you do not want to eat- the Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom. The following people are safe," Chris picked up a marshmallow, and threw it.

"Jasmine." The Australian girl plucked it out of the air with one hand.

"Topher." The Chris fan smiled, catching the marshmallow.

"Scarlett." The genius held out a hand, and the marshmallow landed in it perfectly.

"Max." The marshmallow beaned the villain's forehead, and he fumbled to cup it in his hands.

"Rodney." The marshmallow managed to land in the chest pocket of Rodney's overalls. Reaching in, he pulled it out with a smile on his face.

The view shifted around all of the campers as they received their marshmallows, and finally landed on the twins, both without a marshmallow. "Which leaves Amy and Samey!" Chris gleefully continued.

"I'm in the bottom two with her?!" Amy exclaimed indignantly, pointing at her twin. "I'm not surprised she doesn't have a marshmallow yet, but me?!"

Ignoring Amy's outburst, Chris called, "The Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom goes to…"

Amy sat forward, actually nervous. Sammy sighed silently, hanging her head and getting ready to accept her fate. She blinked oddly when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw the face of a solemn Jasmine silently supporting her.

"Amy!" Chris declared at last.

Smiling victoriously, Amy shot out of her seat, throwing her fists in the air. "Hah," she whirled around to face her sister, "in your face, Same- huh?!" Her mind finally caught up, and she saw the glowing marshmallow coming her way. Yelping, she jumped out of the way. She shook her head afterwards, and scowled at her sister. "You had something to do with this, didn't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Sammy replied honestly, not sure what happened herself.

As Amy pestered her sister, the viewpoint shifted over to Scarlett, who had her arms folded over her chest smugly.

* * *

(Confessional- Scarlett)

"Jasmine clearly thinks nicely of Samey, and wants to save her." Scarlett explained in the confessional. "I could vote her off, and leave Jasmine one less potential ally in the game, but I know what it's like to have an annoying sibling."

* * *

Amy sat in the Hurl of Shame's bucket, very angry. Chris stood next to her on the dock, and Chef was at the catapult's lever.

"Samey had something to do with this! I know she did." She cried out.

Chris smiled at her. "I'd ask if you have any last words, but I'm pretty sure you just said them."

Rolling her eyes, Amy glared at Chris. "Stuff it, Mc- ahhhhhhh!" The catapult launched, flinging Amy out of sight.

"Two hurls down, twelve to go. Who will be eliminated next? Tune in, and find out on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!" Chris outro-ed.

(cue end credits)

* * *

**Amy- 13th**

**Leonard- 14th**

**The vote here was pretty close. Jasmine, Rodney, and Sammy all voted for Amy. Max, Topher, and Amy all voted for Sammy. Scarlett was the tiebreaker vote. Her reasoning is just as she said. She also wanted to vote off Max, but she saw enough of him and her brother in Amy, who already had a target on her back thanks to her actions in the day and Jasmine's attempt to rally the team against her.**

**I changed the word 'laser' from the original episode's title to 'mutant' because the laser part was just random, and no lasers were seen in the episode. I also used trivia from the campers for the first part of the challenge, instead of making stuff up. Sky's was used as a way to get the ball rolling, and Rodney's was to make sure he got some attention. In canon, Rodney was essentially ignored or dismissed by the other characters when it came to his love life, so I brought it up in the challenge to fix that. I could've made something up for Beardo to make the challenge digress without a verbal response like B before him, but I thought Ella's canon trivia was much funnier, and gives a little depth to the character so the cast knows her as more than a fairy tale princess expy.**

**The second half of the challenge went through a major overhaul in how it operated. Sugar was originally set to hop across the Gangplank as the platforms tipped over, but that was when Rodney got ahead of her so with her going before him, that just didn't jive well. Scarlett also was going to use the cannon fire from Ella as a measure of time before making her way through. Probably the only leg of the second half that remained the same as in my original draft was Topher and Beardo's start.**

**Read and review! Reviews are awesome!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is also cross-posted on Fanfiction.net under the same username.


	3. TDRI Episode 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining twelve campers climb a mountain either by their bare hands, or by using junk they can find. Then they play Capture the Flag with snow forts.

Episode 3- Ice Ice Baby

"Previously on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, we learned that although our campers are here to win, they are all losers in one way or another. Really, really big losers. It was a psychological butt-kicking that quickly turned literal, then comical, and then hysterical." Chris chuckled. "But in the end, Amy got the biggest boot of all. Bye-bye!

"I love my job," Chris remarked to the camera when it flashed to him, and backed up so he could be in full view. "Stay tuned as more things blow up, more contestants throw up, and some even try to hook up right here on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"

(cue theme song)

* * *

Some bushes near the Mess Hall rustled as a mouse with an abnormally large brain scurried out into the open. A shadow appeared over the mutated creature, revealing the shadow to be a screeching eagle with its talons out for grabbing. The mouse's eyes glowed green, and shot a beam of green light at the bird. The bird froze on contact, and began getting slammed back and forth into the ground around the mouse, the mouse presumably using some form of psychic powers to control the bird's movements. After thrashing the bird thoroughly, the mouse carelessly tossed the bird aside, and continued towards the Mess Hall, getting in through a small hole in the door.

Inside the Mess Hall, the two teams sat at their respective tables. The Rats took the table nearest to the exit, and the Maggots took the table nearest to the kitchen.

Shawn put a spoonful of gruel in his mouth, and his eyes bulged in response. Coughing, he spat out the gruel. "Man! I thought the slop I have prepared for my bunker would be worse than this!"

"Do I even want to ask about the slop?" Dave asked from across the table.

* * *

(Confessional- Dave)

"So," Dave began to count on his fingers, "the beds suck, the cabins suck, the bathroom sucks, the wildlife sucks, and the food sucks. That's five-star material right there." He concluded, holding his hand up to the camera, despite the fact he only had four digits.

* * *

Scarlett lifted a scoop of food to her mouth, intending to eat it, but she paused at the sound of tinkering at work. Her eye twitching, she looked to her right. "Max, what are you doing?" The shot zoomed out, showing Max sitting next to her. Unlike everybody else in the Mess Hall, he had no bowl of gruel in sight.

"Working on a tool of evil." Max stated simply as he connected some things together. Looking up, he proudly gestured to the device that resembled a helmet with a bunch of wires and little bulbs attached to it, "This, my future minion, is a helmet of evil. It tampers with the wearer's brainwaves and brings out the evil within them. This island is crawling with creatures that would make good minions with their strange powers. I just put this on one of them and bam, Evil has a servant capable of taking over the world! Mwahahaha!" He cackled before calming down, "Though, it's not working right yet for some reason. I'll keep working on it until I've got it."

Scarlett scanned her eyes over the device, and noticed that a plug wasn't connected to an outlet. The object seemed well put together, but yet, the wannabe villain didn't seem to remember to plug the cord in. "You do that," Scarlett said at last, eating another spoonful of slop.

To Max's right, Jasmine and Sammy sat together. Jasmine seemed relaxed as she ate while Sammy had a sad expression on her face.

"I can't believe that I'm here, and Amy's not. Amy never leaves me alone." Sammy confessed to Jasmine.

A grin formed on Jasmine's face at Sammy's words. "You have me to thank for that. When you and Amy were in the bathroom after the challenge yesterday, I had a little talk with the team."

"Wait, so it was you that got her out instead of me? Thank you so much, Jasmine!" Sammy beamed gratefully, "You won't regret keeping me on the team."

"I already don't," Jasmine replied confidently, and continued to eat. "What we did was best for the team. Right, Rodney?" She glanced across the table at the country boy.

Rodney perked up from where he was stirring his food around his bowl. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Amy… vote… mutant shark… hearts…" He trailed off the longer he looked at Jasmine.

* * *

(Confessional- Rodney)

"It's too bad we had to vote Amy off," Rodney admitted in the outhouse. "She was my first girlfriend on the island, but then Jasmine came in and stole my heart away…" He held his hands to his heart, and sighed blissfully.

* * *

"I wish we could've kept her around," Topher spoke up from his seat next to Rodney, across from Sammy. "Her bad attitude would've been good for ratings, and maybe a showmance too."

"Showmance?" Sammy repeated, her tone giving off a sense of worry.

"A showmance is a relationship on TV played up for drama and ratings. It works every time," Topher answered, casually waving his hand. At this, Rodney gave him a curious glance.

Over at the Rats' table, Beardo scooped up a spoonful of gruel with two little antenna poking out of it. Beardo didn't notice, but when he put in his mouth, he began to choke. Clutching his throat, he got to his feet, and stood away from the table, gagging.

"Hang on, Beardo!" Sky called out, rushing up behind Beardo and giving him a hefty whack on his back. The force was enough to make him spit out whatever he was choking on. A little beetle flew out among bits of gruel, and bounced onto the floor.

Wiping his brow, Beardo said, "Phew! Thanks for the save there, Sky."

The rest of his team stared at him in shock. "Did you just-?" Sky stammered, her eyes wide.

"Afro guy can talk?!" Sugar exclaimed, blown away by the revelation.

"Of course I can talk," Beardo replied in a calm tone, acting as if he had been talking the whole time. "Got to thank someone who saves your life, you know?" Ella seemingly paid no attention to his words, instead walking over to the beetle that he had coughed up, and picking it up in her hands.

"Poor little beetle, did you end up in Beardo's breakfast by accident?" She cooed to the insect, soothingly running her finger across its back.

Dave pointed a finger at the insect. "I could've eaten that?!" He stared at his bowl, and shoved it away with a grimace. "Suddenly, I'm not so hungry anymore…"

"I'll take it!" Sugar immediately offered, and snatched up the bowl before anyone could object. She chugged the bowl's contents into her mouth.

At the other table, the mouse from earlier turned up on the tabletop, catching Scarlett's attention. "Fascinating," she said as she adjusted her glasses, "the effects of the toxic waste has apparently increased the size of this rodent's cranium, and gave it increased intelligence. I have to examine this." Scarlett observed, reaching out to pick up the mouse.

Before she could, the mouse rose a few inches into the air above the table and its eyes began to glow. Retracting her outstretched hand, she gave a small gasp of shock.

From the outside of the Mess Hall, a racket could be heard inside the building along with several screams from the campers. Eventually, the majority of them, but not all, ran outside to a safe distance from the building. Moments after they left the premises, a refrigerator flew out the door and crashed into the ground.

The campers bent over, gasping for breath when they heard a gravelly scream, and turned their heads. The scene panned over a few feet, showing Max flying into the ground, heels over his head and his homemade helmet in his hands.

"Attention, players!" Chris' voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "Please head to the looming tragedy that is Mount Looming Tragedy!" A dark mountain with ominous clouds circling around it was shown over the treetops. "Your race begins now!" To underline his order, he blared his air horn over the loudspeakers.

"Let's move, Maggots!" Jasmine commanded, and the teams started running past the Mess Hall. Of the group, Max was lagging behind at a noticeable gap.

* * *

One by one, the campers reached the base of the mountain, which itself was on top of a hill. Each camper panted as they reached their destination.

"A simple run like that?" Topher weakly stated, "not a good first challenge of the day, Chris."

Dave was the last to appear on the scene, and he walked over to a bush a few feet down from the others. Collapsing onto his knees, he barfed into the bush.

Shawn shook his head as Dave wiped his mouth with a sanitized cloth. "Dude, you need to exercise more." A whistle caught the teens' attention.

"Okay, mutant food, on with the challenge!" Chris gleefully declared, standing with Chef Hatchet near a jeep. "Part one is an uphill battle." The host gestured to the mountain. "You have to climb all the way up to that cliff. First team to reach the top gets advantage in part two. You can climb with your hands, or with whatever you find in the pile," he explained, and pointed to a pile of random junk a few feet away. "Don't worry, this junkyard doesn't have a dog; it has a giant, mutant beetle!"

Said mutant beetle poked its head out from behind the pile, hissing as its red eyes glowed. This appearance prompted gasps of fright from some of the campers. Ella stared at the beetle with a thoughtful gaze.

Chris chuckled at the contestants' reactions. "This guy is a bit of a hoarder. His estate is full of useful crud and disgusting crud."

As if to prove Chris' point, the beetle hauled a toilet out of the junk pile, and threw it at the contestants. Jasmine, Rodney, Sammy, Sky, and Shawn all ducked to avoid the toilet flying over their heads.

"That is," Chris continued to explain, "if you can get near it!" He then signaled to Chef, who was now on top of the mountain and blowing a horn. Chris pumped a fist, and exclaimed, "It is on!"

Taking that as their cue to begin the challenge, both teams dashed forward to get started.

"Go, Maggots, go!" Jasmine rallied her team.

* * *

Max whined pitifully as he tried to reach a ledge. "Curse this mountain and its lack of short handholds!"

"You can do it, Max!" Sammy called down from up above. As she returned to her task, her hand slipped when she attempted to grab a handhold, and she began to scream.

The tanned arm of Jasmine reached down, and hauled her up.

Sammy sighed in relief at Jasmine's save. "Thanks so much!"

"Any time, mate!" Jasmine replied, tipping her hat in acknowledgement.

Sky hummed in thought, watching the two girls. "That was nice of her."

"And risky," Shawn added, climbing up past Sky a few feet away. "A move like that could put her in the arm's reach of the undead."

The gymnast gave him a weird look. "Haven't you been saying the last couple days that zombies can't climb?"

Shawn nodded at her. "Yeah, but imagine if she had done that close to the ground instead of way up here."

"…I guess that's fair." Sky concluded, and continued climbing along with the conspiracy nut.

Not too far behind Sky and Shawn, Dave struggled to make progress.

"Eugh, I'm getting all kinds of sweaty today," he complained with a whimper in his voice. "I'm going to need a nice, hot shower after this challenge."

"You may need one, but I won't." Topher spoke up, coming up to Dave's level.

Dave gave Topher a perplexed look. "How are you not sweaty by now?"

"Want to know my secret? It's a little combination of two things called muscle and lucky handholds, two things of which you don't have. Might want to work on that." Topher confessed cockily.

"Oi, Topher!" Jasmine shouted, the view returning to her and Sammy. "Stop talking to the other team, and climb!"

Topher called back, "On it!" Jasmine continued up with Sammy after that, and Topher leaned close to Dave. "Seriously though, work on that muscle. You're not going to pick up any chicks without it." He grabbed another handhold, and made his way further up the mountain.

Dave seemed to take Topher's comments seriously, as he put a finger to his chin. "Work on that muscle…"

* * *

Sugar attempted to file her nails with the tooth she got from Fang as she sat on a boulder near the mountain.

"Hey, Sugar?" Chris asked as the camera zoomed out to show him standing next to her. "Aren't you going to do the challenge?"

"Right after that run you made us do? Heck no!" Sugar retorted, giving him a scalding glare with one eye. She continued to file. "Give me a few minutes. We have a few minutes break between sessions of a pageant to get ready for the next one."

The camera panned over, and showed Ella standing at the base of the mountain, wondering how she was going to get up to the top. She glanced to her right, and Beardo came sliding down to the ground.

"I think this might be game over for me," Beardo huffed, punctuating his statement with a game over sound effect.

"Don't give up, Beardo." Ella encouraged as she put a hand on his shoulder, and pointed to the right. "Look! Some members of the other team might be onto something."

Scarlett kneeled next to the junk pile, scribbling something in the dirt with a stick and occasionally looking at the junk pile. Max sat a few feet away from her, watching her like an impatient child.

"Hope they have a plan for that beetle, otherwise they're toast," Beardo remarked.

* * *

Up on the mountain, Sky moved to another handhold, but as she did so, her foot accidentally knocked a few rocks astray. "Oops!" She yelped sincerely, looking down as the rocks fell.

Jasmine happened to glance up at the noise, and cried out, "Avalanche!" She and Sammy screamed as the rocks pushed them off their current perch.

"Ava-what?" Topher inquired, only for the two girls to crash into him, and then the three of them hit Rodney on the way down too.

The four Maggots groaned in pain as they laid on the ground at the base of the mountain, not too far from where Sugar was sitting.

Sugar paused in her nail filing, and looked up. "Someone sounds hurt," she observed as she glanced around, her lips forming a gleeful smile. "Was it Ella that got hurt?"

* * *

Scarlett attempted to walk up to the junk pile to retrieve something, but a stream of fire got in her way, forcing her to retreat. The source of the fire happened to be the beetle.

"Whoa! Fire too? I wasn't being literal when I said they were going to be toast," Beardo stated, watching the encounter with wide eyes.

"Whether you were being literal or not, we must help them! They could get hurt!" Ella declared, running over to assist.

Beardo lifted a hand up to stop her, but the act failed. "Ella, don't!"

Running over to the junk pile, Ella cast a disapproving scowl the beetle's way. "Excuse me, but that was very rude. I know you're supposed to guard the pile, but that's no excuse to spit fire at people." She waved a scolding finger at the beetle.

The beetle hissed warningly.

Max got to his feet, and walked over to Ella. "Did you really think being polite would work? You must show dominance if you want someone to obey you. Watch!" He marched over to the pile, putting his fists on his hips. "Listen, you reject of an insect! I command you to stand down, and let us take your things!"

As the beetle sent out another warning hiss, his eyes glowed. Max noticed this, and his pupils shrunk in fright.

"Um, please?" He added weakly, putting on a strained smile.

The beetle spewed fire at Max's feet, forcing him to jump away. The beetle curled into a ball, and started rolling after Max, who ran away.

"Stop! Your evil master commands it!" The wannabe villain shouted as he ran. Scarlett had an odd smile on her face while Ella watched with concern, and Beardo hesitantly walked over to join them.

Rodney groaned, getting to his feet with Topher while Jasmine helped Sammy up. "What hit me?"

"We did," Sammy answered ashamedly. "Now we're back to square one!"

"And unless we can somehow climb like crazy monkeys," Topher noted while glancing up at the competition still climbing, "it looks like we're hosed."

Jasmine looked over to the junk, and raised an eyebrow. "Say, what's Scarlett up to?"

Scarlett appeared to be attempting to pry some sort of tarp out of the pile, but her lack of physical strength wouldn't allow the tarp to budge.

"You think she figured out a way to get up to the top fast enough?" Sammy asked.

"Let's hope so. She might be our only shot. Come on." Jasmine motioned for her teammates to follow, and they went over to the pile.

Max's cries of pain from being pummeled by the beetle went ignored by his team as they helped Scarlett do whatever she had planned. Meanwhile, Beardo dug through the pile for something to use while Ella appeared reluctant to make a choice to do anything.

* * *

Up at the top of the mountain, Chef stood surrounded by huge blocks of ice. Below him, Shawn was pretty close to the top. Chef's walkie-talkie crackled to life, and Chef lifted it to his ear.

"You know what to do! Ice them!" Chris' voice cackled, causing Chef to grin deviously.

"Almost there…" Shawn grunted under his breath.

Chef held an ice block over the edge of the summit, and dropped it. Shawn only had a moment to look up before the block slammed into his face, and he lost hold of the mountain. Sky watched as her teammate fell past her, and so did Dave, who appeared to be following Sky's path to the top. Chef then turned his attention to Sky and Dave, beginning to drop blocks down their area.

Sky yelped, pressing close to the ledge she was on. "I guess being small has its advantages sometimes!"

Dave dodged the first few, and laughed. "Ha! Easy as pi-!" He, however, failed to dodge the last of the volley.

"It looks like it's just me left," Sky said, watching Dave fall and wincing when his impact with the ground was heard. "Unless…" Her eyes trailed off to the side.

Sugar continued to file her nails as she sat, but froze when she heard a voice.

"Hey, Sugar! You might want to come up here!" The gymnast shouted. "I think there's a tiara up here for whoever gets up here first! They'll be queen of the mountain!"

Sugar's face lit up. "A tiara? Queen of the mountain? Why, that has my name written all over it!" She stood, and walked past the recovering Shawn and Dave, and began her climb.

Chef threw down another block, this time aimed for Sugar. The pageant queen made no attempt to dodge. It hit her in the face, broke into pieces, and she scowled.

"Hey, watch it! You're gonna smudge my makeup!" The pageant queen hollered, punching a block and breaking it into pieces before it could hit her.

Sky watched in surprised awe at Sugar's display.

* * *

(Confessional- Sky)

"If you want someone to be a team player, you have to get them properly motivated," Sky commented in the outhouse. She glanced off to the side. "That said, I hope Sugar doesn't get too mad that I lied to her."

* * *

Shawn and Dave finally got back on their feet, and turned to check the other team's progress.

"Now, attach that pole there," Scarlett directed as her teammates built something with a mattress, a tarp, and some big lighter. "Samey, are those knots secure?"

Sammy held up some rope tied into a knot. "I think so?"

"Jasmine, check Sammy's work," Scarlett decided, and turned, pointing to Rodney and Topher. "You two, finish fastening the burner."

Dave and Shawn exchanged puzzled looks, shrugged, and started the climb again.

* * *

On the other side of the junk pile, the beetle had Max in a headlock, and was punching him with a boxing glove.

"I ordered you- to stop- punching- me! Dang it!" Max barked as best as he could while beaten up.

"I want to be nice," Beardo told Ella as they stood off to the side, watching. Though, Ella seemed to be thinking of something rather than watching attentively like Beardo. "But, he's part of the other team, and I don't want that thing coming after me."

Ella murmured to herself. "Upset beetle, lost baby beetle, oh!" Everything clicked into place for her, and she brought out the little beetle she had found and Beardo choked on earlier. "Could you be family?"

The little beetle emitted a squeak, catching the larger beetle's attention. The larger beetle dropped Max. The baby beetle jumped from Ella's hands, and skittered over. Picking up the little beetle, the larger one patted its back, and the little one burped a spark of fire.

A smile appeared on the father beetle's face, and he retreated back behind the pile.

"Wasn't that just wonderful?" Ella cooed to Beardo.

Beardo shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that was nice."

"You couldn't have figured that out ages ago?!" Max's shrill voice exclaimed off-screen, causing the two Rats to flinch.

While that happened, the rest of the Maggots completed construction of their project. It appeared to be a mattress attached to the burner, and rope tied a tarp to the burner.

"Uh, if we were building a hot air balloon, wouldn't the bath tub have worked better?" Rodney inquired.

Scarlett walked over, adjusting her glasses. "While for practicality purposes, the tub would've been the better choice, but seeing as we're racing against the other team, we required less weight and more speed."

Max grumbled, walking over while rubbing his back. "Couldn't you have finished the stupid project after you helped your leader?"

Ignoring Max, Scarlett commanded, "Everybody on the mattress!"

"Evil does not-!" Max's comment was cut off by Jasmine grabbing his arm.

"Just get on!" She ordered, tugging him on and shoving him onto Rodney's lap.

"Everybody, please do not fall off otherwise this will have been for naught," Scarlett requested as she fiddled with a knob on the burner.

Fire appeared in the burner, and the sheet above it began to fill with hot air. Slowly, the sheet turned into a balloon, and the mattress began to rise.

"It's working!" Sammy cheered.

Topher grinned at Dave, Shawn, and Sugar as they passed them up. "Looks like Team Maggot is making a comeback!" The three opposing team members gawked at the Maggots' ride.

Chef turned his attention to the Maggots, and readied to strike them down when someone appeared on the mountaintop.

"I made it! I got here first!" Sky exclaimed, jumping up and down with happily raised fists.

"Look out above!" Jasmine's voice rang out, and Sky and Chef whirled to face the direction her voice came from.

The Maggots' makeshift balloon appeared over the mountain's lip, and Scarlett reached up to the burner again. Twisting the knob a bit, the burner cut its fire, and the whole balloon just dropped down onto the mountaintop.

Unfortunately for Chef, that meant right on top of him. Sky winced at the landing.

"Scarlett, you did it! We won the challenge!" Sammy cried out, the team having rolled off either side of the mattress due to the Chef sized lump underneath.

Scarlett raised her head from where she was laying on top of Rodney. "Naturally," she simply said, and then glanced down at Rodney, who was giving her the same look that Rodney gave Jasmine and Amy the day before. "Um, something the matter?"

Rodney stared at the fellow redhead, imagining her surrounded by hearts and cherubs.

* * *

(Confessional- Rodney)

"Jasmine is strong, but Scarlett? She's really smart… maybe she can be the brain to my brawn." Rodney mused, holding up an arm and showing off his thick muscle.

* * *

As the Maggots got to their feet, Chris flew up to the top with his jetpack. "Slow your roll, Not-Amy, I say who wins," the host reminded.

Sky held a hand to her chest, sighing in relief.

"The Maggots, thanks to Scarlett!" Chris declared.

The Maggots started to cheer once more, except for Max, who turned away in a huff.

"See how I do that better?" The host rhetorically asked with a smug grin.

"I thought the first person up here won the challenge for their team," Sky confessed, gesturing to herself.

Shawn and Dave arrived, and Shawn shrugged at Sky's admission. "Can't win them all, except the apocalypse. It's imperative to win that."

Chris explained, "First team to the top wins, that means your whole team, and you're missing a few members." Sky seemed to sulk at that.

Setting a hand on her shoulder, Dave attempted to cheer her up by saying, "At least this way if we lose, we know who to vote for."

"Who to vote for what?" Sugar piped up, finally reaching the mountain top. Grunting in effort, she pulled herself up to the platform. "Elimination? I hope it's Ella."

Chris landed on the mountain, and removed his helmet and jetpack. "Speaking of elimination, which team will have to face it? Find out after the break!" The show faded out on Chris' smile.

* * *

When the show tuned back in, an ice machine was making snow, and the campers were shown to be standing on an icy field surrounded by a snowy background. Standing in their respective teams, the campers shivered in the cold that the ice machine generated. Jasmine clutched the Maggots' flag as she attempted to keep warm, and Shawn held the Rats' flag.

"Greetings, ice teens!" Chris greeted as he and Chef drove up on a snowmobile, wearing parkas. "Cold enough for ya?" he joked upon seeing them all shivering and their teeth chattering. "I'll take that as a yes," he decided as he dismounted the vehicle. "Time for part two of today's challenge- Capture the Snow Fort! To win, you have to either demo the enemy's fort." Gesturing to his left, the cameras showed a poorly made snow fort that appeared bumpy and weak-walled. "Or capture the flag, and bring it back to your own fort." When Chris gestured to his right, the cameras displayed a strongly-built castle made of snow. "The Maggots won the first part, so they get first dibs on the forts."

Sammy glanced up at the unofficial team captain. "W-we're cho-oosing the castle, r-right?"

"Might be a ba-bad call," Topher argued, "if I know Chris as well as I do, o-odds are it looks nice on the o-outside, but a mess on th-the inside."

"Would he re-really do that?" Rodney spoke up, looking at Topher, who nodded due to wanting to save his warm breath.

Jasmine set her face in a determined expression. "We'll ju-ust have to deal with it. We'll take the castle." She started walking over with the flag, and the rest of her team followed.

* * *

A cut to moments later showed the Maggots inside their fort, no longer shivering. Also in the fort with them were a pile of large snowballs and a shovel sticking into the ground.

"Structurally stable," Scarlett noted as she glanced around. "This is better than I predicted it would be. Excellent selection, Jasmine."

* * *

(Confessional- Max)

"That fort would make an excellent evil lair!" Max laughed sinisterly before adding an afterthought, "it could use a furnace to keep warm though."

* * *

Inside the Rats' fort, which was the same as the Maggots' but with worse walls, Beardo whistled as his team got a look around.

"Man," he breathed, "this place looks so bad, even a snowman wouldn't want to live here."

"I don't know, I think it looks rather cozy," Ella replied with a smile.

Sugar snorted under her breath. "Of course she'd be the only one to like this dump."

"Listen up, players!" Chris called through a megaphone. Outside the two forts, Chris sat in a lawn chair next to a fire under a shady umbrella. Chef carried a chair over, and joined him, sitting down as well. "Use the shovel in each fort to fire your collection of mystery snowballs, which you can fire at each other's forts."

Max gleefully rubbed his hands together as he approached the shovel in the Maggots' fort. "A weapon, perfect! With this, we can menace that terrible team." He gave it a practice pull and launch.

In the Rats' fort, Ella cupped her hands around her mouth to raise her voice. "Why exactly are they called mystery snowballs?"

"Because they inflict major damage, thanks to the secret weapon hidden inside each ball," Chris continued to explain. "But some will damage you," he added as a ball in the Maggots' fort seemed to hiss and move, "so choose wisely. Each team has to elect a captain to command and conquer, starting now!"

Jasmine put her hands on her hips, standing tall and assertive. "Alright, here's how it's going to work. Sammy, Topher, and I will go and get the flag from the other team's fort. Scarlett, Rodney, Max, you three stay here, and defend ours while you attack with the snowballs."

At Jasmine's order, Rodney frowned. "Uh… Jasmine, before we do anything there's something I've got to-!"

Max scoffed, walking up to the center of the group. "Now hold on! I do not take orders from the likes of you!" He jabbed his finger at Jasmine, causing her to glare at him. "I have a better plan!"

"Let's hear it then," Scarlett responded, folding her arms skeptically.

"The tall one, the mean one's clone, and the kiss-up one will go and distract the other team from destroying our fort. Meanwhile, sidekick and the henchman will attack with the snowballs, and defend our flag," Max stated, pointing at everyone and not even bothering with names.

Scarlett merely hummed in understanding. "And what will you be doing?"

In response, Max held up the helmet he had been working on earlier that morning at breakfast. "Completing this, of course! I took some tools from that junk pile, and am going to use them to finish my Helmet of Evil. Once it's complete, I will be unstoppable!"

The genius redhead stared at him flatly for a few moments, and gazed up at Jasmine. "Let's go with your plan."

* * *

(Confessional- Scarlett)

Scarlett sent an uninterested glance at the camera as she examined her fingernails on one of her hands. "Max is a fool. Anyone can see that. If we were alone, I would've encouraged his dumb behavior to make himself more of a target, but he's doing that on his own."

* * *

Shawn and Sky began to speak at the same time, saying the same words, "Here's what we're going to do-!" They paused when they noticed this, and glanced at each other. "Uh…"

* * *

(Confessional- Sky)

"I'm not entirely confident about Shawn leading the team for the challenge, considering his obsession with zombies, but I have to let him try leading us so I don't look like I want to dominate the position. If this works out, I can feel more confident about letting someone else take the lead, and if it doesn't, I have reason to not let him the next time."

* * *

The gymnast cleared her throat. "Erm ehem, Shawn, you want to take this one?" She offered, gesturing with her hand.

"Um, thanks." Shawn acknowledged before turning to the rest of the team. "Okay, this is just like how the zombie apocalypse is going to be, but with the zombies flinging snowballs. We're going to need our best fighters on the attack so Sky, Dave, and I will go get the flag. Beardo, Ella, Sugar, you guys stay and defend home base. Got it?"

Dave timidly raised a hand. "Actually, can I swap with someone…"

"And, go!" Chris declared outside, surprising the team into action.

"Come on, let's go!" Shawn exclaimed, running out into the open with Sky and Dave on his heel.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Dave muttered in worry.

The sun beat down on the area, and Chris and Chef sat next to their warm fire with coconut drinks in their hands. Apparently at some point, the two got warm enough to discard their winter wear.

After taking a sip, Chris said, "Hurry up! My ice is melting, and so will your forts if the sun gets much higher."

"Impatience doesn't suit you well, Chris!" Topher jeered, running alongside Jasmine and Sammy.

The junior Chris was so focused on making a verbal jab at the host that he forgot he was running on ice, and slipped. He fell onto his butt with a yelp, and started sliding across the ice.

"Great, now my butt's probably going to bruise," he complained as he slid past Jasmine and Sammy. Way out in front of his teammates, he slowed to a stop on the ice, and the ice cracked underneath him. With a frightened cry, he fell into the freezing cold water, and popped back up to the surface, encased in an ice cube.

Chef cackled at the sight while Chris chuckled.

"Forgot to tell you," the host called out, "No Man's Land is more like No Man's Water!"

Inside the Rats' fort, Beardo and Ella looked over the pile of snowballs their team had.

"Which one do we throw first?" Ella asked Beardo, looking to him for guidance.

Beardo scratched his beard, thinking as he looked the pile over. "I dunno, but some of them give that 'dun dun dun' feel to me. Ya know?"

Ella clapped happily. "Oh, you rhymed!"

Off to the side, Sugar snorted at her. "Wasn't that hard of one," she mumbled, obviously irritated. The pageant queen took out Fang's tooth again, and tried to file her nails again.

* * *

(Confessional- Sugar)

Sugar huffed in the outhouse. "I know her angle. She's complimenting every little thing noisemaker guy does so he won't vote her off. I know that trick. I used it in a few of my early pageants, and won them after that. Other gals tried to do it to me in a couple, but I didn't fall for it, and I'm not falling for it now."

* * *

Beardo picked up a snowball, and put it on the shovel's handle. "Let's try this one," he decided. "It looks solid." Pulling the handle back, he launched it through the window as Ella watched on, partially concerned for the other team.

Outside, Jasmine and Sammy approached their frozen teammate, not even noticing the snowball soaring overhead.

The snowball hit the pillar of the Maggots' fort closest to the camera, and Rodney poked his head out to look. He pulled his head back in, and faced Scarlett. "It looks like they hit our left pillar."

"It appears they have not finished assessing their correct trajectory," Scarlett assumed while taking a snowball into her hands. "Unfortunately for them, I have already found ours." Loading the snowball onto the shovel, she reeled back, and let it fly.

The snowball soared over the heads of the campers outside, and homed in on the Rats' fort.

"Incoming~!" Ella warned in a high-pitched sing-song tone, and she and Beardo dove for cover.

Sugar didn't pay attention to Ella's warning, and continued to file. The snowball beaned her in the forehead, and her body recoiled back, the back of her head hitting the flag post, and her body fell to the floor.

"Did that hit? I think it hit." Rodney inquired, unsure of what he saw.

Scarlett shrugged. "It went through the window so I'd likely say we hit the bullseye of the target so-to speak."

Ella approached her fallen teammate. "Sugar, are you okay?"

The pageant queen rubbed her head with one of her hands. "Ooh, my achin' brain…"

* * *

Outside, Jasmine and Sammy had reached Topher, and Jasmine was motioning Sammy along.

"Go get the flag," she told her teammate, and proceeded to reach out and grab the sides of Topher's block. "I have to get Topher."

"You want me to get the flag?" Sammy asked, nervous. She glanced down, and started twiddling her fingers in circles with each other. "I don't know…"

"Just go, Sammy! You can do it!" The Outback explorer grunted, and attempted to heave the block out of the water.

Sammy peered over her shoulder in the direction of their enemy's post. "Okay." Turning on her heel, she began to carefully walk across the ice towards the Rats' fort.

* * *

Back in the Rats' fort, Ella returned to helping Beardo fire snowballs, and they stopped what they were doing when a particularly large snowball landed next to them. The snowball exploded, and the giant beetle guarding the junk pile in the first part of the challenge hissed at them while raising its two foremost legs menacingly.

"Whoa! It's just us!" Beardo stated, attempting to placate the mutant insect. He pointed at Ella. "Remember? She reunited you with your baby." The camera shifted over to Ella, and she waved a friendly greeting to the beetle.

The baby beetle hopped up onto the adult beetle's head, and waved a leg at her. At the same time, Sugar snapped out of her daze, and happened to glance up to see the interaction.

"We're your friends," Beardo continued, and walked over to point out the window. "Those are the guys that launched you at us. They're the ones you should hiss at." The two beetles jumped out the window, and started to scurry back towards where they came from.

Ella joined Beardo at the window, frowning. "I don't think that was a very nice thing to do."

"In this game, you've got to make tough choices. Come on." Beardo went back to the shovel, and Ella reluctantly followed.

* * *

Shawn, Sky, and Dave were out on the ice, but seemed to be going nowhere as they ducked under snowballs being fired from both sides.

"This is hopeless!" Dave cried out. "With all these snowballs being thrown around, we're sitting ducks out here!"

"We're not sitting ducks," Sky argued. "We just have to find a way across, and quick. They've got one of them coming over here, and she's closer to her goal than we are." Sky pointed at Sammy, who indeed was moving closer to them.

"Maybe we should do the same, but aim lower," Shawn suggested.

Dave raised a questioning brow. "Aim lower? What do you mean by that?"

Shawn grabbed a fistful of Dave's sweater vest, and tugged him close. "I mean this." He pushed Dave down onto his belly, and grabbed the back of Dave's sweater vest with both hands. "Go get that flag!"

"What're you doing- aaaaaah!" The neat freak screamed as Shawn threw him across the ice.

"Good luck, Dave!" Sky called after him.

Dave slid past a confused Sammy, past Jasmine, who had finally gotten Topher out of the water, and into the Maggots' fort.

"Incoming!" Rodney exclaimed, raising a foot so Dave wouldn't collide with it. Scarlett had been loading another snowball onto the shovel when Dave slid right past her.

"One final touch, and my diabolical invention will- ouch!" Max deviously proclaimed as he tinkered with his helmet, but was interrupted by Dave crashing into him.

Dave rose to his feet, rubbing the side of his face that had hit Max. "Ow… the flag!" He gasped, seeing it a few feet away.

Scarlett's eyes went wide. "We can't let him leave the premises with that, or we lose. Rodney, stop him!"

"I'm on it!" Rodney declared, pointing a finger skyward before hurrying over.

The neat freak was about to reach out, and grab the flag, but was pulled back. Rodney had caught him just in time, and wrapped his arms around him.

"Hey, let me go! I don't know where you've been!" Dave shrieked, struggling to get out of Rodney's hold.

The country boy gave a proud smile. "Sorry, but you're not getting our flag."

"Ah, perfect timing!" Max's voice spoke up off-screen, causing the two boys to look over in his direction. Max stood in front of the beetle, who had just arrived, with his helmet in hand. "You will make the perfect minion now. Put this on!" Max thrust the helmet at the beetle.

The insect hissed, and spewed fire at Max. The wannabe villain dropped his helmet on the ground, and ran away from the beetle, calling 'Mommy!' as it gave chase. He caught sight of Rodney and Dave, and pursued them too. Rodney released Dave, and the three boys ran around, screaming and trying not to get hit by the flames. The fort started to melt slightly, and Scarlett poked her head out from behind the pile of snowballs yet to be used.

The genius redhead watched the attack for a few moments, and then spotted Max's helmet on the ground where he had left it. While the beetle's attention wasn't on her, she raced over to scoop up the helmet. She looked it over like she had done at breakfast, and noticed that while the construction of the device had been improved, Max still hadn't plugged a cord in. Plugging it in herself, she smiled as the red light on top turned on, signaling the helmet was functional. Spinning on her heel, she ran back to the boys.

The beetle stood in one spot, spinning around and around, spitting fire at the panicking boys. In his attack, the beetle failed to notice Scarlett sneaking up on him, and planting the helmet on. The reaction was instantaneous. The attack ceased, and the mutant insect stood rigid, its eyes glowing an even brighter red.

Scarlett smirked at the result. "Excellent," she said before gaining a more professional look. "I am your master. Attack the other fort! Burn it into nothing!" She ordered, pointing out the entrance.

The beetle obeyed, ambling out of the fort while Rodney, Dave, and Max all stopped panicking to watch in shock.

* * *

In the Rats' fort, Beardo held the team flag above his head while Sammy tried to reach for it.

"Come on, please! I need to get your flag!" Sammy pleaded.

Sugar laughed as she stood back to watch the show, "Hah, fat chance of that happening!"

"Oh dear, mister beetle is coming back," Ella fretted beside Sugar, causing the pageant queen to glance at her staring out the window. "Something's different about him, though."

The viewpoint shifted outside, and the beetle stopped a few feet away. He drew in a deep breath, and released a huge breath of flame. Almost immediately, the weak fort melted like ice cream in a microwave. When he was finished, there was nothing left of the fort but the contestants out in the exposed open, and water at their feet.

Shawn and Sky reached where Jasmine was with Topher, and the three not-frozen campers gasped in shock.

"Uh, can we rewind a sec? What just happened?" Beardo spoke up, lowering the flag from above his head and looking around at the others in confusion.

"What just happened was the Maggots won!" Chris declared, him and Chef walking over. The pair were once again dressed in their winter wear, and the hulk of a cook held a tray of steaming mugs in his hands. The rest of the campers not at the fort came over, with Jasmine pushing Topher's ice block across the ice. "And here's their reward, McLean brand hot chocolate- scald your senses with chocolatey goodness."

The Maggots pumped their fists, and cheered. The Rats slouched, and groaned in defeat.

While no one paid attention to the beetle, Scarlett discreetly removed the helmet from the insect's head. As he came back to his senses, he blinked around him confusingly.

* * *

(Confessional- Scarlett)

The redhead sat in the confessional with the helmet situated in her lap. "I was essential in today's victory. I came up with our plan to win the advantage, and I used that mutant insect as a pawn. Of course I wouldn't have managed the second victory without this contraption of Max's." She held up the helmet, and observed it. "While Max is a moron, he does have the makings of a potential inventor."

* * *

(Confessional- Topher)

Topher opened up his confessional with a sneeze. "Achoo! Ugh, thanks to being stuck in that ice, I have a cold. I have to get rid of this, and fast. A future TV host can't be sick on TV. I'm going to need a lot of that hot chocolate."

* * *

Shawn, Sky, and Dave sat on the porch of their cabin as Sugar stood before them. Beardo and Ella were nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know about y'all, but I think Ella needs to take a hike," Sugar said to them.

"Why her?" Dave asked.

"Because she's a nonsense," Sugar promptly replied.

"…You mean a nuisance?" Dave clarified slowly.

Sugar pointed at him. "That too," she added, "and she's the whole reason we lost."

Both Shawn and Sky became more alert, but Sky was the one to speak up. "She was? How do you know that?"

"Because I saw her," the pageant queen confidently stated. "When that beetle thing showed up, she did her little song thing, and swayed it to go to the other team's fort. If she hadn't done that, that bug wouldn't have come back and melted ours."

Tapping his chin, Shawn nodded along with Sugar's explanation. "That does make a bit of sense. Ella likes to sing a lot."

"It's all true, and afro guy was in on it too."

* * *

(Confessional- Sugar)

Sugar giggled to herself. "That totally wasn't true. It was afro guy that told the bug to beat it, and Ella did nothing. Man, I'm so good at lying, I should try and find a way to make that a talent for a pageant!"

* * *

At the campfire later that evening, the team was seated, and Chris had the ceremony going.

"Back at the ceremony already? I thought after you voted out your wizard pal, you'd be golden, but I guess not." The host chuckled as the team donned looks of dismay. Sugar, in particular, was offended by the mention of Leonard's elimination, and glared at the host. "The following Rats are safe…

"Shawn!" The conspiracy nut brightened up considerably as he caught a marshmallow.

"Sky!" The gymnast had to reach up high to catch her treat.

"Dave!" He attempted to catch it in his hands, but it ended up landing in his mouth.

"Sugar!" Unlike Dave, she intended to catch it in her mouth, and eagerly began to chew. "Which leaves Beardo and Ella," Chris summarized, causing the bottom two to appear taken aback by the revelation. "The Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom goes to…"

Beardo began to sweat, and Ella clutched her hands together, clinging to hope.

Shawn watched on, his expression set in a stoic form. Dave and Sky watched intently, both curious to know what the outcome was going to be. Sugar smiled darkly, almost as if she knew what the outcome was going to be.

"…Ella!" Chris finally exclaimed.

"Oh…" Ella sighed softly, lowering her head. Without knowing it, she unintentionally ducked under her marshmallow. "I thought I was doing so well."

Chris tutted at her. "Apparently not. Maybe this will serve as a lesson for you, there is such a thing as too nice in this game."

"It's better to be kind than mean, Chris," Ella responded as she stood up, and turned to face her former team. "So long, everyone. I'll treasure our time together. And, if you don't mind, I have one more song I'd like to sing. I didn't get to do much of that here."

"Uh, what?" Chris interrupted, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"Huh?!" Sugar uttered, surprised as much as Chris.

A little tune began to play as Ella started to sing, " _My time on the show is finished and done, but that's not to say I didn't have fun. I'll do my best not to cry, but now is the time to say goodbye._ "

"Hey, I didn't okay a musical bit. Knock it off!" Chris shouted at her.

" _I came onto Total Drama, and gave it my best! I gave it as much effort as the rest._ " Ella gestured to her former teammates. " _So long, everyone. I hope you all have fun. I want you to know,_ " she continued to sing as birds came out of nowhere, and surrounded her, " _I had a lot of fun in the snow!_ "

Chef had gotten out of his hazmat suit, and Chris angrily pointed at Ella. Getting the order, Chef ran at the girl.

" _You all were nice, and a bit of spice."_  Ella sang, the birds lifting her up as Chef rushed her. Chef missed, and ended up colliding face first with one of the stump seats, to the shock of the remaining Rats.

The birds flew Ella down the dock, and set her in the catapult's bucket.

" _I'll do my best not to die,_ " the girl continued as Chris ran down to the dock with a scowl on his face. " _Because now I have to say goodbye-yyyyeeee!_ " The song ended with Chris pulling the lever, and the fairytale princess was flung into the night sky, along with the birds.

With Ella gone, Chris' scowl faded, and he appeared happier. "That's enough of that. Geez, it'd have been annoying if she sang more than she did. Tune in next time for more mutant mayhem and hilarious pain on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"

* * *

**Ella- 12th**

**Amy- 13th**

**Leonard- 14th**

**This episode was not my best work. I couldn't find a smoother way to eliminate Ella anywhere else, so the whole climax of this episode and onward feels a little forced. Ella's thing is singing, and she hasn't gotten much of a chance to do that here, so I at least wanted to give her the sing-song goodbye she had in canon. Because she didn't have the same experiences as she did in her canon season, her goodbye song is a bit different. With the cast swap, she got the shortest end of the stick if you catch my drift. She couldn't get to episode six because she would win the second half of that episode very easily by singing to Sasquatchinakwa, and I feel the intensity of the season's second half would shatter her innocence, one of her most prominent traits.**

**I aim to have the next episode up next week, but if it doesn't happen, expect it the week after, and that will set the pattern of episode updates for the future.**

**Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also cross-posted on Fanfiction.net


	4. TDRI Episode 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The eleven remaining campers go on a scavenger hunt in the middle of the night. As the night progresses, teammates mysteriously go missing.

Episode 4- Finders Creepers

"Last time on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, the campers climbed a wall, and played in the snow. Max played with a toy of his own creation, and then Scarlett played with it to make her team win. Sugar had it out for Ella, and managed to convince her team to send Ella packing. Wish Ella didn't pack a song, though.

"And now," Chris narrated as he appeared onscreen with the moon behind him in the night sky, and a candle in his hand. "Tonight's challenge is about fear, and fear is a dish best served in the dark!" The host began to laugh spookily. He halted when he noticed something to his left. "Huh? Chef?!"

The scene zoomed out, showing Chef in a showgirl costume, complete with a peacock tail. "Wardrobe was all out of vampire costumes," explained the burly cook to his cohort's scowl.

The camera swirled around to face camp, and Chris walked away from his cook. "It's all scary," he continued his narration before jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at his friend, "other than that. Right here on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"

(cue theme song)

* * *

Bubbles ran along the surface of the lake until they hit the beach, at which point they ceased, and a figure rose out of the water.

The figure was covered in algae and seaweed. They let out a monstrous growl. Some nearby animals, a really long-eared rabbit, a winged goat, and a three-eyed frog all panicked at the new arrival. Using its long ears, the rabbit took flight along with the winged goat. The three-eyed frog appeared to teleport away in a flash.

A flash transitioned to the sight of Jasmine, asleep in her tree with a length of rope around her foot. Shifting over to a tree a few feet away, Shawn could be seen wide awake with a length of rope around his foot as well. It seemed as if he had taken a page out of Jasmine's book, and tied himself to the tree to prevent himself from falling to the ground.

Blinking, Shawn looked around.

* * *

(Confessional- Shawn)

"In the event of a zombie apocalypse, I've trained myself to stay awake as long as I can. You never know when the enemy might spring up on ya. That, and I heard noises coming from the woods earlier tonight. A mutant might've come and attacked."

* * *

The conspiracy nut jerked as he heard some rustling, and turned his attention to where the noise came from.

In the tree-line not too far away from him, as well as Jasmine and the cabins, he could spot an ominous figure trying to blend in among them. It was the same figure from the lake. Not knowing what it was, Shawn made the only conclusion he could.

"Z-z-zombie!" He cried out. Just after he screamed, a shrill noise pierced the air- a horn. Caught off-guard, Shawn yelped as he fell off his branch.

"Run! Run for your lives!" The voice of Chris McLean called over the noise.

The other campers burst out of their cabins, fully-dressed for some reason despite it being the middle of the night.

Sammy hurried out of the girls' side of the Maggots' cabin, asking, "What's happening?!" Seeing her teammates run down the porch, she followed suit. Max yelled out, "Evil overlords first!" while Rodney declared, "I'll protect you, Scarlett!"

On the porch of the Rats' cabin, Dave stood in confusion, scratching his head. Before he could open his mouth to ask any questions, Sugar bowled him aside so she could slide down the cabin railing while barking, "Outta mah way!" Sky screamed, rushing out of the girls' side of the Rats' cabin while Beardo came out making alarm clock noises.

The two teams found Chris standing in the common area in front of the cabins, and gathered in front of him. Jasmine and Shawn joined their teammates from the other direction as Chris released his hold on what appeared to be a blowhorn. Even after he stopped, Beardo was still going. Dave slapped him across the cheek to get him to stop.

"Good night, everybody!" Chris greeted with a cheeky smile.

* * *

(Confessional- Topher)

Topher sat eagerly on the toilet seat with his hands moving about as he spoke. "So we're all sleeping soundly for a couple hours when boom! Chris wakes us up with that air horn of his. Now, it's too early for it to be the merge seeing as we've only had four eliminations, so I figured out that it must be a nighttime challenge! Every season has at least one."

* * *

As the footage went back to the gathering, Shawn stammered, "C-Chris! Something in the woods! Zombie!"

Chef rolled up a monitor to the group as Chris shook his head. "Silly Shawn, there's no zombies in the woods. Just a challenge!"

* * *

(Confessional- Topher)

"Called it!" Topher pumped a bragging fist.

* * *

Scarlett scowled at the host. "Cognitive function is dependent on REM sleep. If you want us to perform a challenge at optimal efficiency, then we should return to our slumber."

"Where's the fun in that?" Chris chuckled before getting down to the nitty-gritty. "Your challenge? A scavenger hunt for three creepy souvenirs. Your locations? A haunted forest, a spooky pet cemetery, and an extra spook-tastic cave. First team to each location gets a special clue. Watch out for booby traps, I really went to town with them. So move fast, and stick together! You'll be penalized for every player you lose," he explained, unintentionally pronouncing penalized like 'pee-nalized'.

Max chuckled, interrupting the host. "You said pee."

Tentatively, Dave raised his hand to ask a question. "What does the spider represent, exactly?"

"Oh yeah," Chris realized, "there's no zombies in the woods, just a giant, mutated spider sort of running loose around the island."

The answer stirred a lot of murmuring and whispering between the campers, voicing their protests and worries about the challenge and the spider.

"Well, that's just the gravy on top of the rotten mashed potatoes," Sugar complained. She turned to her team to complain some more, but the complaints died when she raised an eyebrow. "Hey, he okay?"

Beardo and Sky stared at Dave, who had his arms wrapped around himself and was quaking in place.

* * *

(Confessional- Dave)

"I hate spiders! They're a sign of dirty places! They hole up in unclean places, and weave their sticky, gross webs all over the place, like my grandpa's attic and basement!" Dave stated, curled up in a ball on the outhouse toilet seat.

* * *

Holding up his air horn, Chris quipped, "There's nothing to fear but mortal terror itself. Talk soon!" Briefly, he sounded the horn, and then the teams reluctantly started their jog into the woods.

The moon could be seen over the top of the woods.

The Maggots soon arrived at the base of a tree with a pit in front of it, and a loudspeaker snaked around the tree itself.

"Yay, we made it here first!" Sammy cheered lightly, not wanting to attract much attention in the dark forest.

The loudspeaker screeched to life with Chris' voice, "Welcome to the Haunted Forest! Your clue can be found at the base of this tree."

Jasmine kneeled in front of the pit, and hummed. "Anyone got a long stick?"

Rodney bent down to the ground, and picked one up. "There's one right here," he said, walking over and handing it to the explorer.

"Why did you need a stick?" Sammy asked right before she heard a metallic clang, and winced.

"Inside a bear trap," Chris finished with a laugh that quickly ceased when Jasmine showed the stick.

Pulling the stick out, Jasmine showed her team the stick with a bear trap clamped to the end. The stick, noticeably, wasn't as long as when Rodney gave it to her. "This is why," she answered, not even fazed by the trap. She threw it aside, and reached back down into the pit again, this time bringing up an envelope with her hand.

"Oh no," Sky moaned sadly as the Toxic Rats reached the post. "They beat us here."

Topher let out a laugh. "Yeah, we did. Advantage, Mutant Maggots."

His eyes darting every which way, Shawn urged, "Let's keep going. I don't think we're safe here with that zombie out on the loose."

"I agree with Shawn," Sky nodded her head. "About the 'keep going' thing, not about the zombie thing. Come on!"

The Rats jogged ahead further into the forest, and when they were at a decent distance from the Maggots, they came to a stop.

"Ugh, all this running is tiring me out. Can we sit down for a spell?" Sugar huffed, hunched over.

"Not here," Sky said, "we need to find out where the Maggots are going next. Everyone, find a place to hide. Maybe we can listen to the Maggots read the clue."

Shawn scrambled up into a tree, Sky and Dave jumped into a nearby thorn bush, and Sugar hid behind the tree Shawn climbed into. Beardo ducked behind a set of rocks next to the thorn bush, but was partially exposed due to his huge afro. Doing his best to sit still behind the rocks, he pretended his afro was also a bush.

Moments later, the Maggots walked through the clearing with Jasmine reading the contents of the envelope.

"Inside the knot is a nest, your souvenir lies with a pest, find Polaris to travel northwest," the Outback explorer read.

Adjusting her glasses, Scarlett explained, "Polaris is the north star." She looked up at the sky, and pointed. "It is there, which means we have to go in this direction," the genius pointed down a path.

"Great job, Scarlett! Let's go!" Rodney cheered, and the team ran down the path to the right.

Once they were gone, the Rats quietly came out of their hiding places, and hurried after their rivals.

* * *

The Maggots ran down a wide, open path. As they ran, the camera zoomed in on Rodney's smiling face.

"You're so smart. You know that, Scarlett?" Rodney asked, getting silence as an answer. He looked back to where Scarlett was trailing at the back of the group, but she was no longer there. Gasping, he skidded to a stop. "Scarlett? Scarlett!"

The rest of the team stopped with him, and Sammy let out a gasp of shock, "Oh em gee! The penalty Chris was talking about!"

Jasmine walked over to Rodney, and closely examined the ground. "This is strange. She left no traces of disappearance. How'd she manage that?"

"Forget about her, she was a terrible sidekick." Max scoffed from off to the side. "Look what I found!" He pointed at an upcoming tree with a big hole in it along with paint marks right under the hole. "A knot with a nest, you're welcome," The villain remarked smugly.

The rest of the remaining team ran over to join him. As she started to climb up the tree, Jasmine praised, "Good spot, Max."

Max smirked, folding his arms in front of him. "Naturally."

Reaching the knothole, Jasmine peered inside. "Hm, souvenir… souvenir… souvenir…"

To her surprise, a giant eye opened in front of her, and tentacles slid out of the other holes in the tree. The rest of the team screamed in fright as they were confronted with what appeared to be some sort of tree squid. The squid wrapped a tentacle around Jasmine, and pulled her away from the tree.

"Whoa, hey!" She yelped in surprise, struggling to pry the tentacle away from her midsection.

"We've got to help Jasmine!" Sammy declared, though thoroughly scared. Spotting some rocks at their feet, she bent down to pick them up. She quickly handed some to Rodney and Topher, the two nearest to her, while keeping some for herself. "Quick, throw rocks at it!"

Focused on Jasmine, the squid slapped and poked at her. It managed to poke her in the eye once, and after that, the explorer managed to grasp a tentacle and hold it in place.

Jasmine barked a laugh, "Hah, not so tough now, are ya?" She felt something hit her backside. "Hey, what's going on back there?!"

Rodney winced down on the ground. "Sorry," he apologized as he threw another stone. "Might be aiming too high."

"So what if your aim is off, this is hilarious! Keep doing it," Max delightfully ordered.

The squid eventually threw Jasmine down to the ground, and the rest of the team scattered as it swung its tentacles around. Max was unfortunate enough to be the squid's next victim, and he was hoisted up upside-down. He screamed in terror.

Sammy hurried to Jasmine's side, helping her friend up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I've been thrown around a lot worse," Jasmine confided, adjusting her hat back to its regular position.

The two jumped when they heard a screech, and looked up at the tree, shutting its eye in pain. Max, meanwhile, was slammed into the ground much like Jasmine was.

Holding a stone, Topher pumped his fist. "Hah, bullseye! Somebody get the souvenir!"

"I'll get it!" Sammy volunteered while Jasmine got her bearings. She hopped up to the tree, and climbed up to the hole. Reaching in, she pulled out the souvenir. "A key! The souvenir's a key! Hey guys, this must- aaah!" Something white and sticky latched onto Sammy's head, and stole her away, making her drop the key.

The key fell at Jasmine's feet, and she picked it up. "A key? You blokes have any idea what this- where's Sammy?" Jasmine looked up, and searched around the immediate area.

Topher's eyes went wide. "Oh man! We're getting picked off!" He exclaimed as the show switched to infrared vision briefly, detecting the remaining team members' body temperatures. "Huh, classic night challenge twist," he added with a touch of fondness.

The show switched back to normal vision, and Max and Rodney walked over to join Jasmine and Topher.

"Who cares if that goody-goody twin is gone?" Max huffed. "She and the sidekick were dead weight."

"No, they weren't," disagreed Jasmine sharply. "No team member is dead weight."

Rodney looked over his shoulder, and frowned. "Hey, you guys? We better get moving."

At that moment, the Rats arrived at the tree.

"Wow, down two people already?" Sugar asked with a chuckle. "You Maggots are going down faster than my cousins at my family's last Boxing Day feast."

Topher rolled his eyes, narrowing them at Sugar. "We are not down two people. Scarlett and Samey just went on ahead to see if there were any traps." He walked away, tugging at Rodney's hand to get him to follow. "Come on, let's catch up with them."

Jasmine nodded assertively. "I agree." She and Max followed the two boys away from the tree.

Beardo looked away from the Maggots, and spotted something. "Yo, team! I think this is it." He pointed at the tree. "Team colors!"

"Oh no! I am not looking in there. What if that spider is in there? What if it's already been zombified?!" Shawn protested immediately.

"Well, somebody has to," Sky spoke up in a calm tone, and looked between her teammates. "So, who's going?"

Sugar held up a hand brightly. "I volunteer Dave!"

"Wait, what?!" Dave questioned, blinking rapidly. Before he knew it, Sugar had him held above her head. "Wait, nononono!" Ignoring her teammate's pleas, Sugar threw Dave into the hole. "Aaah! Ouch!" There was a bit of shuffling in the hole, and then Dave poked his head out. "Hey, I found the souvenir! It's a key," he told his teammates while holding it out to show them. As he showed it, he noticed a tiny spider crawling across his hand and the key. "Ah, spider! Get it off, get it off!" In his flurry of motion to shake the spider off, he fell out of the tree to the ground in front of Sky's feet.

Sky smiled down at him, along with Beardo. "Nice work, Dave."

* * *

(Confessional- Beardo)

"On my first day here, I thought my team was a bit wild, and I couldn't say a word to them," Beardo recalled. "Now that it's been a few days, I think my team is pretty awesome when they want to be. Heck, I can even talk to them now."

* * *

While Sky crouched down to pick up the key, Beardo opened his mouth to comment, but the same white stickiness that took Sammy latched onto Beardo's afro, and carried him off before he could make a sound.

"Hey, Beardo? What do you think this key could be for?" Sky asked her teammate, standing upright once more. When she didn't get a verbal response, she looked next to her, and gasped. "Um, guys? Where did Beardo go?"

Rubbing his head, Dave stood. "Great," he sarcastically remarked, "the one time we actually want him to say something, he disappears."

"It's got to be the zombie!" Shawn griped, clutching his hat with his hands. "We made so much noise, and we're out here in the open for the taking. We're probably next!"

Sugar walked over to him, slapping him upside the head. "Get a hold of yerself, zombie guy."

Touching his face where he had been smacked, Shawn glanced at Sugar in surprise. "Did you just slap me?"

"Just to shut ya up, think nothin' about it," Sugar replied, and walked back past the tree. "Now come on, we gotta move if we're gonna beat those Maggots."

"What about Beardo?" Sky asked, holding the key in her hand.

"There's a spider, and maybe one of those zom-bee things running around. The longer we stay, the sooner one of them will find us. Now, let's go!" Sugar reasoned, pointing onward.

* * *

(Confessional- Sky)

"I didn't want to leave when Beardo could be left behind, but I had to believe Beardo was going to be fine. He's got a lot of hair, so maybe if the spider got him, it would just lay eggs in his hair as a second nest."

* * *

The remaining members of the Maggots ran down a forest path with Jasmine in the lead, followed by Topher, Rodney, and then Max.

"This trail is too quiet and peaceful," Topher said, "When is Chris going to give us another booby trap to liven things up around here?"

Jasmine rolled her eyes at Topher's remark. "We don't want another booby trap. Though, if it's like the bear trap, I could probably handle it."

* * *

(Confessional- Jasmine)

Jasmine sighed at the start of her confessional. "I'm worried about Sammy. She's like this little sister I never had that I need to keep an eye on, and teach the ropes of survival to. I wish she were still with the team. Being alone with these boys is not all that fun."

* * *

Continuing to run, Jasmine vaguely noticed Rodney coming up beside her.

"Um, Jasmine, can we talk? There's something I need to tell you," the country boy began to say, jumping over a rock in the process.

Jasmine gave him a brief glance, and then said, "Bark it out, mate." She jumped over a tree stump.

"See, the thing is I think we should-"

"Stop!" Jasmine suddenly shouted.

Only then, Rodney noticed the unofficial team captain stop running. "What?" He asked before the ground under his feet exploded, sending him into the air with an orange blast. Rodney let out a scream, falling onto a clearly displaced mound of dirt. The moment he made contact with it, that one blew up, sending him back in the air. The process then began to repeat.

Jasmine watched with wide, incredulous eyes. Max and Topher caught up to her, watching in shocked awe as their teammate set off a bunch of land mines. After a few more blasts, the explosions were over.

Rodney, gray and covered in bruises, laid dizzily on the ground, surrounded by open holes in the ground.

At that moment, the Rats overtook the Maggots. Sugar let out a malicious laugh.

"Thanks for setting all those off, pardner!" She crowed, cackling while her teammates weren't laughing at all.

"No problem…" Rodney mumbled in pain.

Jasmine and Topher rushed over to him, visibly worried, and Max joined them a moment later, walking instead of running.

The wannabe villain scoffed, "Nice going, letting them take the lead."

* * *

Up ahead in area full of gravestones, a graveyard, the Rats entered. Tired from their run, they panted while the loudspeaker came to life.

"Welcome to the Wawanakwa Pet Cemetery!" Chris chuckled.

Sky spotted something near the loudspeaker, and pointed. "Hey, what's this over here?" She walked over, and found a coffin in a shallow hole. Seeing it could open, she pried at the two-flapped cover, and opened it. "Guys, there's numbers in here. Six, six, eighteen, six."

Dave scratched the back of his head. "So we have to look for some sort of code in a disease-ridden pet cemetery? This is the worst night ever."

* * *

A flash forward showed Shawn cautiously wandering throughout the cemetery.

"We really shouldn't be here," he said to himself. "Cemeteries are the first place a zombie appears. Oh, I really hope we don't meet that zombie here…"

"Boo!" Sugar exclaimed, popping up from behind a gravestone.

"AAAAAH!" Shawn screamed, and took off running.

The pageant queen laughed, slapping her knee and pointing in the direction Shawn ran. "Gotcha!"

Panting while he hid behind a tree, Shawn breathed out, "That… was not funny!" Even though he was not in Sugar's presence, he felt like saying it anyway. He shook his head. "Man, what is wrong with me? With that zombie out there, I'm even more on edge than normal," he sighed. "Of course, that spider out there doesn't help matters."

The camera's viewpoint switched to infrared, continuing to watch Shawn.

* * *

Elsewhere in the cemetery, Dave and Sky met up.

"Find anything?" Sky inquired.

"Only the most beautiful thing in the cemetery right now," Dave flirted with a grin.

Blushing at the comment, Sky opened her mouth to say something, and then she burped.

Dave's eyebrows shot up, not out of surprise, but rather excitement. "Did you just…"

Sky's face turned even redder. "Yeah, I did-!"

A familiar scream pierced the air, interrupting the moment. The two Rats gasped, "Shawn!"

They ran to where Shawn's scream was heard, and Sugar was already there. "Welp, guess it's down to the three of us now," Sugar shrugged, not at all concerned by Shawn's disappearance.

"We've lost almost over half the team now," Sky reminded her, "and you're not concerned by that at all?"

"Nope," the pageant queen answered, popping the 'p'.

Sky frowned at Sugar. "That is a really bad attitude to have about teammates."

Dave nodded, and mimicked Sky's frown. "I agree with Sky. That's really slimy."

Sugar hummed freely, ignoring the scowls of her two remaining teammates, "Eh, I've heard worse. Let's go find that code."

* * *

Elsewhere in the cemetery, Topher stood in front of a pile of coffins.

"Okay, this place has the ambiance, I'll give it that, but I'm disappointed in the lack of traps. Was Chris too lazy to put any in here?" He thought out loud, and pulled at the cover of an upright coffin leaning against the pile. Upon opening the coffin, he was met with the face of a grinning Fang. Yelping, he closed the coffin with a forceful shove. "Ask, and will receive!" The junior Chris ran off with Fang bursting out of the coffin in pursuit.

Kneeling next to a pit, Max admired it. "Ooh, a pit of doom! My future lair could use a pit like- augh!" As Topher ran behind him, he unwittingly knocked Max into the pit. The wannabe villain cried out as he landed with a splash in what seemed to be a brown liquid. Fang passed the pit, and continued after Topher.

In an attempt to escape Fang's range, Topher dove over a newly buried grave. Fang attempted to follow, but he clipped an upright shovel, and fell into the grave.

"Mm-hmm! I smell fries!" Sugar licked her lips, following a scent as she walked through the cemetery. She soon came to the pit Max was in. "Hey, is this where the smell's coming from?"

"Hello? Hello! Anybody? Your evil master needs some help down here! His undies are getting all soiled!" Max called out.

Sugar gasped, "Talking hole!"

"I'm not a talking hole, you imbecile! It's me, Max, your future overlord!"

"Oh, I know you! You're that funny little guy on the other team. Hey, are there any fries down there?" Sugar asked, ignoring Max's predicament.

"What?!" Max cried indignantly. "No, there are not! There's nothing down here but lots and lots of grease."

Sugar frowned, snapping her fingers. "Well, boo! I thought for sure there were fries 'round here somewhere. Stupid grease, playing tricks on my nose…" The pageant queen walked away in a huff.

"Wait! Come back here, and help me out of here, you insipid buffoon!" The same white, sticky string shot into the pit. "Ew, what is this? Looks like spider web-ah!" Almost in lightning speed, the string hauled Max out of the pit and away.

Chris chuckled, watching the action on a set of monitors while casually sipping a drink through a straw. On the monitor to the right of the one that depicted the grease pit, Jasmine seemed to have climbed up a tree in her search. On the monitor to the left of the pit's, Dave appeared to be vigorously rubbing his hands with sanitizer.

"Will anyone even make it to the spooky cave? And if so, how can they possibly make it to the finish line? Less brain, and more pain when we return!" Chris punctuated his narration with another slurp of his drink.

* * *

"Come on," Sky pleaded to no one in particular as she tried to find the numbers in any nook or cranny she came across. "Those numbers have to be here somewhere."

Behind her, Dave moaned in exhaustion. "This is hopeless," he exclaimed, "it's late, or early depending on what time it is, we're tired, and we're in a germ-infested graveyard that could give us who knows what kind of diseases." Walking away from Sky, he took a seat on top of a gravestone. "I just want this to be over already."

Sky went over to him. "I want this to be over too, Dave, but we can't give up. We're one person weaker than the Maggots, and we need to secure that immunity." Glancing down at the gravestone Dave was sitting on, she scrunched her eyes. "Wait a minute… Dave, move your legs."

Confused, Dave consented, "Um, sure?" Moving his legs, Sky could now see the whole gravestone's writing.

"June sixth, eighteen-o-six?" Sky read out loud. "Dave, I think this is it! We found it!"

Dave hopped off the gravestone, and looked at it. "We did?" He read the same thing Sky did, and his hopeless expression on his face became more hopeful. "Hey, we did!" He pumped his fist, facing Sky. "Oh yeah, who's the man?!"

* * *

(Confessional- Dave)

"That's one of the things I like about Sky," he told the camera. "Just when the challenge seems too tough, and it seems like a better choice to give up, she finds a way to give us a second wind."

* * *

(Confessional- Sky)

Sky smiled to herself. "Dave's kinda cute when he gets excited. He's pessimistic about a lot of the challenges, but when we make progress like this- boom! He's happy, and seeing him happy is a nice sight."

* * *

Sugar walked over to the happy couple from the left side of the screen. "What's all the hubbub? You know there's another team here looking, right?"

"We found the location of the next souvenir," Sky told her, holding up the key. "We were just about to use the key, actually."

"Ooh, let me do it. A gentleman should be the one to unlock things for the ladies in the area," Dave took the key, adopting a suave tone. Before Sky and Sugar could voice any objections, Dave slid the key into a hole on the gravestone, and twisted it.

The reaction was immediate.

A coffin sprung out of the ground in front of the gravestone, and Dave was sent flying off-screen. Sky and Sugar winced at Dave's cry and crash.

The girls opened the coffin as Dave recovered, and found a number of flashlights inside.

"Flashlights… we must need these for the cave," Sky deduced, scooping up the flashlights into her arms. She stepped away, and looked at Sugar. "Sugar, could you put that coffin back? We don't want to tip off the other team."

"Might be a little late for that with you two's hollerin' but okay," Sugar shrugged, and shoved the coffin back into the ground. The two girls walked off to collect Dave, and head onto the cave.

The camera shifted over to a tree nearby, and Jasmine poked her head out from behind it. "Interesting… better round up the boys."

* * *

"Welcome to your final destination," Chris' voice greeted Sky and Dave, the two standing at a cave entrance with team flags positioned on each side. "Your clue is just inside the entrance, and down the tunnel into total darkness. Good luck!"

Sky glanced at Dave, who had an unnerved frown on his face. "Dave, are you alright?"

"No, Sky, I'm not. It's just… the spider could be in that cave. I hate spiders. Spiders, next to dust bunnies, represent all that is dirty and unclean."

The gymnast rested a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. Sugar and I will be right beside you the whole time. We'll get in there, find the clue and the souvenir, and get out as quick as we can. Okay?"

Dave gulped audibly. "I guess so… just one question, though."

"Yeah?"

"Where is Sugar?"

The pair looked around, realizing that their third remaining teammate was not with them.

"Hey, where'd Sugar go? I thought she was right behind us," Sky said.

"I stopped hearing footsteps a while ago, so maybe she stopped to take a break. We have been doing a lot of walking tonight," Dave reasoned. He turned back to the way they came from the cemetery. "I'll go and find Sugar. You stay here in case the Maggots turn up. We can't have you going in there alone if the spider is in there."

Sky nodded. "Okay, but hurry back."

"Yes, ma'am!" Dave chuckled lightly, giving a mock salute. He hurried back down the trail.

As Dave left, Sky stared at the cave entrance. "I know I told Dave I would stay here, but the clue could just be inside… and if the spider does live in there, it probably lives deeper in. Just step inside, get the clue, and get back out." Exhaling a deep breath, Sky steeled herself, walking into the cave.

Inside the cave, she shined a light on a skeleton hanging on a spider web. It was dressed in intern clothes, and had a note attached to its shirt.

"It was just inside like I thought! Yes!" Sky cheered quietly. "Feel bad for this poor guy, though." She peeled the note off the shirt, and read it. "By hook or by crook, the end is near if you look. What does that mean? Augh!" The sticky string returned, this time assaulting Sky from behind. It wrapped her up, and forced her to drop her flashlight and the clue. "Oh no, I should've listened to Dave!" She screamed as she was carried off.

* * *

"Sugar? Sugar!" Dave called, walking down a forest path between the cemetery and the cave. He soon found his teammate bending down in front of a bush. "Sugar, there you are. Come on, we need to hurry back to Sky. What are you doing?"

"Sometimes I get hungry in the middle of the night, and have a midnight snack." She held out a few oddly-colored berries she picked from the bush. "Here, try some of these. They're delicious."

"Sugar, those grew here! They've probably been mutated by toxic waste, or something. You have any idea what they'll do to your digestive system?!" Dave ranted, rather panicked.

"Nope," she shook her head, and popped a few more berries in her mouth, causing Dave to cringe. "What? Do I have juice smeared on my face?"

* * *

A flash forward brought the two into the cave, and Dave called out, "Sky? Sky!"

Sky's flashlight was found on the ground. "Oh no, Sky's flashlight! I told her not to come in here without us." He flicked the device off, saving the battery, and turned to Sugar. "First Beardo, then Shawn, and now Sky? Could this night get any worse?"

"Well," Sugar opened her mouth to answer, but was shushed by Dave's finger.

"Don't answer that," he hissed with a scowl.

* * *

(Confessional- Sugar)

"Geez, that boy needs to learn to unwind. So what if most of our team got caught, or eaten, or whatever? At least we're still kicking!" Her stomach rumbled, causing her to fart, and then the confession came to a close.

* * *

"By hook or by crook, the end is near if you look. What do you think that means?" Dave asked Sugar, the two walking further into the cave.

Sugar shrugged. "I dunno, but that rock has a really weird hairdo." She pointed up ahead to a skull-shaped stone with hooks sticking out.

"Hey, those look like hooks. Those must be the last souvenir!" Dave declared.

Somewhere, Sky's voice called out, "Dave, watch out!"

Dave looked up. "Sky? Whoa!" He pushed Sugar back a step as he stepped back himself. A shot of white string hit the ground right where Dave had been standing. "That was close," he commented as the string retracted with nothing in its hold. He looked up, and his eyes lit up with glee. "Sky, you're okay!"

"We all are," Sky replied, shown tangled up in white webbing before the camera zoomed out. Everyone that had gone missing during the challenge were there. Scarlett, Sammy, Beardo, Shawn, Max, and Sky were all accounted for. "In a way, anyway."

"Not gonna lie, being the first one taken from my team sucks," Beardo commented.

"I agree with the sentiment," Scarlett agreed.

* * *

(Confessional- Scarlett)

"Of course, being picked off first has its perks," Scarlett personally amended in her confessional. "After doing all the work in the last challenge, it was like I was given a break this time around."

* * *

"Could someone get us down from here already?" Shawn cried out. "I'm really not looking forward to being that spider's midnight meal!"

The spider hissed from its perch on a stalactite.

"Scarlett, you're alive!" Rodney exclaimed as he and Topher led a shivering Jasmine onto the scene.

"And so are Max and Samey," Topher noted, looking up as well. He nudged Jasmine in her side. "Jasmine, look. Samey's alive."

"So small…" Jasmine whimpered with frightened eyes wide. She heard Topher's comment, and her panic subsided slightly. "Sammy?"

"Jasmine, help! Get us down from here!" Sammy pleaded, seeing her teammate and friend.

Jasmine's fear seemed to disappear a bit more, and she set her face in a determined expression. "I'm on it." She began jogging over to where the spider's web was.

"I'll rescue you, Scarlett!" Rodney boldly stated, following Jasmine.

Topher hesitantly followed his teammates. "Wait, shouldn't we go after the souvenir first?"

A devious smirk formed on Sugar's face, and she stuck her foot out in front of Topher.

"Oof," the wannabe host grunted as he tripped over Sugar's foot, and knocked into Rodney's back, causing both boys to fall over. With both of them down, the spider took the opportunity to wrap them up in webbing. "Ah, not the hair!" Topher panicked as they were wrapped up.

"Hoowee, that's a laugh," Sugar chuckled while Dave watched in horror. The pageant queen jogged ahead. "Come on, let's go get that souvenir!"

"What about Sky?" Dave asked timidly, "and the others?"

Jasmine came to a wall, and started to climb it. "Hang on, everyone! I'll have you down sooner than a kangaroo can kick."

"I think you might be a little late for that," Sammy replied in a frightened tone as the spider was now on the web, and crawling towards the captured campers. "Somebody do something!"

Seeing this, Shawn scrunched his eyes shut. "Just pretend it's a zombie. Pretend it's a zombie. Zombie!" He snapped himself out of his webbing, and flung at the spider. "Zombie!"

* * *

(Confessional- Shawn)

"Fear might not be a positive motivator, but it's one of the best motivators," the conspiracy nut noted.

* * *

Jasmine continued to try and climb the wall to reach the web, but without handholds, it was hard. "Come on, Jasmine! Get it together! Your teammates are in trouble, now's not the time to let your claustrophobia keep you from being on your game," She berated herself as she slid down the wall once more.

"Need some help?" Rodney offered, walking over with Topher stuck to his back via webbing.

The explorer smiled at him. "That'd be great."

"I still say we go for the souvenir, win the challenge, and come back for them later," Topher spoke up.

Rodney linked his fingers together to make a foothold. Jasmine placed her foot in it, and the country boy launched her up. On her way up to the web, she managed to land on Max, and pushed herself off him to get up a bit further so she was at the center of the web. The force of her leap off Max broke him off the web, and sent him down to the ground.

The wannabe villain let out a yell of pain as he hit the floor.

"That was amazing, Jasmine!" Sammy praised, smiling wide.

Sky nodded, "I think that jump was worthy of a gold medal."

Jasmine smiled at them. "Thanks, mates. Let's get you out of there."

Sitting up, Max found his webbing was torn, and was able to move his limbs again. He rubbed his head with one hand, moaning, "Ow, my evil head…" He blinked, noticing Sugar taking a hook from the rock. Max then stared up at the web holding the other contestants. He glanced back at Sugar, who saw a cliff with a rope line leading deeper into the cave. "Every evil genius for himself!" Rising to his feet, he hurried over to the rock.

Still stuck in the web, Scarlett saw what Max was doing, and her eyes went wide. "You fool! Don't! If you leave us here, we'll lose!"

"You still think this is a challenge? You're the fool!" Max argued, and removed a hook from the rock. "I'm not going to be spider food." He then ran over to where Sugar was.

"The penalty, Max, the penalty!"

"Zombie, zombie, zombie!" Shawn chanted, pounding away at the spider. The force of his blows started to break the stalactite the spider was hanging from.

Sugar looped the hook around the rope. "Sugar holla!" She exclaimed with glee, jumping off the cliff, and riding the rope down into the cave further.

"Die, zombie!" Shawn declared as the stalactite finally broke, causing the ceiling of the cave to start crumbling. Shawn, the spider, Jasmine, and the remaining webbed campers all fell, screaming. Rodney, Topher, and Dave shrieked, attempting to take cover.

At the end of the cliff, Max looped his hook, and jumped off the edge with a terrified cry of, "Mommy!"

The cave-in ceased, and the dust cleared. Everyone, except Shawn, was on the ground and broken out of their webbing.

"Everyone alright?" Sky asked. She got moans and groans of pain as an answer. Jasmine in particular had curled up into a fetal position, and was shivering.

* * *

In a dark part of the cave, only illuminated by the eyes of dark creatures lurking around, Sugar's eyes passed through the area as she gave an excited whoop. Max's eyes followed soon after hers, the wannabe villain wailing in fear.

Outside the other end of the cave, Sugar came sliding out.

"Yeehaw!" She hollered, coming to the end of her ride and dropping from her hook.

"Waaah!" Max yelped, hitting the unexpected end and also dropping from his hook.

The two seemed to have fallen on their backs, and as Max blinked, trying to process everything that happened in the last few minutes, he was shoved off by Sugar.

"Get off of me!" She growled, getting to her feet.

"I am off of you, fool!" Max retorted.

Before the two could descend into bickering, Chris walked over to them. "Well, well," he hummed cheerfully, "both teams made it to the finish line."

"Wait," Max got to his feet, "we still had a challenge going on? I thought with that spider attacking us, the challenge was off!"

"Nope, the challenge was always on," Chris replied smugly as Max paled even more than he already was. "Speaking of the challenge, the winning team is… the Rats!"

Sugar pumped a fist. "Booyah, that's how Sugar does!"

"But-! I thought-!" Max babbled, trying to make sense of what just happened.

"Don't worry, even if you didn't totally abandon your team and even if you did get here before Sugar, you would've lost anyways. You lost five team members while Sugar only lost four," Chris delightfully explained, patting Max on the head.

Sugar cackled at the look on Max's face, and pointed at him. "You totally screwed up!" She began to howl with even more laughter.

"So true," Chris agreed with a nod of his head.

* * *

Back in the cave, Shawn coughed, walking over to where the spider laid. "Not my best fight- huh?!" His eyes went wide as he looked down at the spider.

The spider was torn open, and there were canisters inside along with no blood spattered anywhere. The whole thing appeared to actually be a costume. The most surprising part was the costume's occupant was none other than Izzy.

Dazed, Izzy noticed that she wasn't alone. "Oh, boo!" She started laughing.

* * *

(Confessional- Shawn)

"Okay, so the mutant spider wasn't really a mutant spider after all. It was just Izzy from the first three seasons in a spider costume," Shawn summarized in the outhouse, and swatted a spider lowering from the ceiling. "So, I don't have to be concerned about that anymore, but I'm still concerned about that zombie I saw earlier. Wait, was it really a zombie, or just another person in a costume?" Confused, he started to scratch his head as he thought.

* * *

"So, fun night, huh?" Chris asked the Mutant Maggots, all of whom did not look happy to be at the bonfire.

"Oh, it was loads of fun," Jasmine answered sardonically, rolling her eyes.

"While it contained the classic night challenge twist," Topher spoke up, sounding rather critical, "the challenge could've used a different one, or added one. I mean, I'm no host, but that's what I would've done."

"May we please cut the chit-chat," Scarlett interrupted. "It is really unnecessary, and we all know who the blame for us being here is." She glared at Max, who scoffed and looked away from her.

Max argued, "We were being attacked by a mutant spider. It's like I said, in moments like that, it's every evil genius for himself."

Chris shrugged, "I would, but Chef hasn't shown up with the Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom." He squinted his eyes, and scratched his head as he looked around. "Where is he?"

* * *

Elsewhere, Chef stood tied to a post, and a number of plungers stuck to his face. His expression set in a frown, he reacted as another one stuck itself onto his face. Across a small campfire pit from him, Izzy held a bow while wearing a tribal headband. She laughed uproariously at hitting her mark. Chef sighed in resignation of his current position.

* * *

"So, if Chef isn't here, does that mean the ceremony is canceled?" Rodney inquired.

Sammy agreed, "That would be nice. I want to go back to bed, and not have our team lose another member."

At Sammy's comment, Chris smiled. "Oh, but your team is losing a member tonight. Tonight's eliminated Maggot is tomorrow's new Rat." He pulled out some slips of paper, and glanced at them. "And according to your votes, the eliminated Maggot is Max!"

Max furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, so I'm not leaving the island? I'm just being put on a new team?"

"That's right! From here on in, you'll be competing against the Maggots!" Chris confirmed, earning gasps of shock from Rodney, Jasmine, Topher, and Sammy.

Barking out a huff of laughter, Max victoriously pointed his finger in Scarlett's face. "In your face, sidekick, or should I say, former sidekick! You will not be rid of your future supreme overlord so easily!" Scowling, Scarlett said nothing in response to the taunt.

"Whatever, Max. Kinda disappointed nobody's going for a catapult ride, though," Chris said, leaning on his oil drum podium, clearly bored by Max's outburst.

Topher dismissively waved his hand. "Just get one of the interns to do it. It's not like you care about keeping them around."

Chris' eyes lit up at Topher's suggestion. "Ooh, good idea!"

* * *

A flash forward saw Chris standing at the Hurl of Shame. Since Max was the eliminated camper, he chose the intern that resembled Max the most to hurl, namely the short, chubby one with black hair. Around his waist was a duck-themed floaty. In moments within being seen on camera, the floaty deflated. The intern quickly noticed this.

"Um, Mr. McLean, I need a new-!" He screamed as he was flung into the night sky.

"Not quite the same as hurling a camper, but still satisfying," Chris remarked with a smile. "Will anyone actually be hurled next time? How will Max fare with his new team? Find out next time on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"

* * *

Another flash showed the Maggots returning to their cabin. Max was not with them, and the moment they reached the cabin's area, they paused their trek when they heard the intern's scream, which quickly faded.

"I'd say that was the intern that Chris decided to hurl," Topher casually assumed, and resumed heading to the cabin. "Good night!" He said to the others.

The others bid him good night, saying good night to each other as well, entering their respective sleeping quarters. Jasmine broke off from the group, and climbed up her tree.

"Good night!" Sammy said, being the last one to do so, and walked into the girls' side of the cabin.

The camera zoomed out, showing the boundary line of bushes and trees. Hidden in the bushes, a dark figure spied on the cabin. Some sinister notes played as the figure watched for a few moments before the show switched to the credits.

* * *

**Ella- 12th**

**Amy- 13th**

**Leonard- 14th**

**So, no elimination this episode. Some of you probably saw that coming. It's all part of the plan. Outside of science, Max is pretty much an idiot in regards to everything else. Him abandoning his team to the (actually fake) mutant spider is probably the most evil thing he's done in the game so far, or maybe the only evil thing he's done in the game so far. Max was also in a canon team swap so that works nicely.**

**I had a systematic approach to the vanishing teammates thing. I wanted to spread around the spotlight a little better over the course of the season, and I thought taking out those that were most beneficial to their team in the last challenge early on in this one, such as Scarlett, the key component to her team's win last episode, getting taken out first. I also knew that Shawn, as a survivalist, would be hyper aware of his surroundings at all times, so I needed to shake him up to allow him to get caught. That's what the figure at the beginning was for. In addition, because ROTI is more action-oriented than team-oriented, I needed Dave and Sky to last a while in order to expand their relationship for the plot.**

**Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is also cross-posted on fanfiction.net


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